The Scarlet and Gold Standard Generation
by guitar848
Summary: James Sirius Potter cruised through his first 4 years at Hogwarts. Now it's O.W.L year and exams aren't even his biggest problem. He's feuding with his sister, he's just been appointed Quidditch Captain...and oh yeah he's a prefect. A prefect whose already on the outs with the new Head Girl. So much for a quiet year...
1. A Rough Start

Chapter 1: A Rough Start

Author's Note: For the first time but certainly not the last: I do not own anything to do with Harry Potter

It was a Sunday, the 1st of September. London was gloomy and drizzly as it often was and not too far away King's Cross Station was buzzing with a strange influx of people you didn't see every day. Now these people tried their best to appear as common as the Muggles around them on the platforms but some things were simply impossible to hide. Say for example, being in the company of an owl or toad or toting an oversized school trunk that seemed to be plastered with moving pictures. Or, to go one further the fact that there was a stick like object protruding curiously from your back pocket. The witches and wizards at King's Cross on this morning really just hoped that any overly suspicious bystanders didn't look too close or take these objects too seriously. A family of five with two parents, two sons and a daughter walked briskly through the throng guilty of carrying three such oversized trunks and two owls thankfully asleep in cages. Each child also carried what appeared to be a common broomstick and the young daughter's wand was ostentatiously tucked behind her ear, protruding from beneath her long auburn hair as if she really didn't care who noticed it. Aside from these items the family did not draw any particular attention to themselves as they were all dressed casually in jeans, jackets, sneakers and jumpers or tee-shirts. Each one of them seemed to know exactly where they were going and aside from the raven-haired father and red-haired mother, who both frequently glanced at their watches, they all appeared calm and business like.

As the family approached the gap between platforms nine and ten their pace slowed considerably but they did not stop. Approaching the barrier in stride the two dark-haired boys and their father walked straight towards it and through to the other side with two of the trunk-laden trolleys. They were joined seconds later by their mother and younger sister who had closely followed with the last trolley. Finally they all stopped. It was impossible to not stare (even for a just a moment) at the stunning, gleaming scarlet train now in front of them, despite the fact that they had all seen it before. White smoke billowed about and the engine seemed to strain with the anticipation over its imminent journey. Now that they were all together again the family took off once more, walking hurriedly along the platform searching for either someone or a group of people. The apparently older son, who was a bit taller than his brother, waved to or greeted many of the children they passed enthusiastically and was now beginning to become annoyed that he wasn't able to stay and chat with them. Under the watchful gaze of his mother however he told each of his peers that he would catch up with them later and so dutifully followed his family to nearly the end of the immense train. There the family finally came upon what they were looking for in the form of another small family. It soon became apparent, due to the many red heads and vague resemblances, that the two families were definitely related.

"Alright there Ron?" inquired the raven-haired man smiling as he approached the group that include two parents and two children.

The taller, red-haired Ron turned and smiled back and said in reply "Alright Harry. Say what took you lot mate? It's less than 10 minutes to eleven it is."

Harry laughed and said "Bloody parking mate every time it seems to take longer."

The red-haired woman rolled her eyes and hugged the brown-haired woman next to Ron in greeting before saying "You're so tactless Ronald! Like we were trying to be late? How did you ever agree to marry him Hermione?" she joked.

Hermione smiled and patted Ron on the shoulder before replying kindly "Well he has his moments."

Harry looked at Ron and shrugged as if to say he wasn't particularly sure what the problem was this time but it must have been something. Ron coughed uncomfortably still puzzled about what he'd said wrong now and changed the subject. "Yes well let's get these trunks on the train Harry what do you say? We don't want this lot to get left behind. Merlin knows what kind of ideas they would come up with. It would be worse than flying cars" he said earnestly.

Ginny groaned deeply and noticed the mischievous smile that had automatically appeared on the face of her eldest child.

"Who flew a car? Wait and they flew it to Hogwarts? Dad, Uncle Ron it wasn't you was it? And yet come to think of it a flying car… it makes sense. Who else would think to make a car fly besides Granddad Arthur?" asked the hazel-eyed James as he babbled ecstatically and quickly forgot all about being annoyed. "Al," he continued to gush turning towards his brother "Are you hearing this?"

Albus Potter was also intrigued and chipped in pointedly with a curious "Why in the name of Merlin haven't we ever heard this story before?" He then shared an amused looked with his ginger-haired cousin Hugo, whose eyes were practically boggling out of his head that's how enthused he was about the subject.

Hermione looked almost as scandalized as she had been on the day it had happened. She couldn't believe Ron had finally mentioned it to the kids after all these years. Now she and Ginny could be almost certain that James, Hugo, Albus, and in all likelihood their cousin Freddy as well, would hijack a flying car sometime in the future whether they had to make it fly themselves or not. The two red-headed cousins Lily and Rose stood silently by; astutely noting the annoyed reactions of their mothers, the intrigued reactions of their male cousins/brothers and the apologetic smirks of their fathers as the two men hastily put the three Potter children's trunks and brooms on the train. Lily thought a flying car sounded lovely but wondered wouldn't it get hot up there quickly being closer to the sun and all? If she was ever riding in a flying car she would bring Chocolate Frogs, some cold butter beers and perhaps a book. Rose doubted she'd ever get into a flying car. Like her mother she had never been particularly keen on flying, even on a broom. If Lily or someone else did manage to convince her however she would definitely bring a book, probably two.

"Great Ron" said Ginny taking advantage of the fact that her brother was now done loading the trunks to kick him in the shin.

"Bloody hell Ginny" howled Ron as he hopped up and down on his other leg and shot her a dirty look. Hermione and Harry both grimaced for his sake but they didn't stop the feisty red-head from attacking as they knew it was futile and potentially dangerous for their own health. The Potter/Weasley children all grinned, as watching Ginny and Ron fight was always terrific entertainment.

James however, could not be entirely distracted and even as the train whistle blew, signaling that it would pull away from the station in exactly two minutes, he would not let the idea of a flying car lapse. "I want to know the bloody story," he began insistently as his mother stopped fighting long enough to hug her children, niece and nephew. After saying their goodbyes and shoving owls into the hands of their appropriate owners the adults shooed them onto the train telling them to have a good semester, to above all behave and to kick some ass at Quidditch. James Sirius hung off the train still earnestly insisting to hear the story even at the last possible second. "Bloody tell me! Uncle Ron what kind of car was it? Dad how long did it take you? I need details!" he yelled even as the scarlet engine picked up speed.

"Watch your language James Sirius Potter and don't you dare try this! That's goes for all of you boys" yelled Ginny crossly for the entire platform to hear. Harry and Ron merely shrugged at him and waved goodbye, noting that the crestfallen James eventually ducked inside the train.

When his parents, aunt and uncle were no longer in sight James turned away from the train window feeling put out. This was something he would have to figure out on his own, or with the help of his other cousins, thus further affirming that adults that were, as always, useless. Albus and Hugo stood in the corridor with him almost as disappointed, but not quite. "Looks like a real Weasley/Potter mission," suggested Al and Hugo nodded solemnly in reply. James also nodded his assent, still wishing that he could fly a car through the Scottish countryside right now. He sighed heavily and began walking up the train, owl and broomstick in one hand and dragging his trunk with the other. James fondly wished he could go sit with his friends and Quidditch teammates at the moment and tell Freddy right away about the prospective of a flying car but unfortunately he had his first ever prefects meeting right now.

Over the summer when his Hogwarts letter had come it had felt different to him right off the bat. It had been heavier than Al and Lily's letters combined and had even looked extra bulky. James had opened the letter curiously, only to promptly see an object flashing red and gold fall to the kitchen floor. Upon retrieving the badge James had gleefully discovered he was now the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, despite only being a 5th year. Looking back only the few weeks James still considered that moment the proudest of his young life. He was a Quidditch captain for Gryffindor just like his mother and father and grandfather had been in their days at school. Teddy Lupin (who was arguably his hero), his Uncle Charlie, his Aunt Angelina and his best friend Trevor's dad had also been Gryffindor Captains. You could say he had been practically destined to have it. Preoccupied by the Captain's badge James had carelessly thrown the envelope and the rest of its contents aside. He had figured it was just the usual new book list and perhaps a congratulatory note on being named captain, but nothing more. Disinterested in such mundane things at that moment the eldest Potter child had jubilantly dashed off to find his father, to show him the badge before Harry had had to leave for the Auror office. Harry had been very pleased, but admittedly a little surprised. He knew of course that James was Quidditch obsessed and brilliant Chaser, with parents like himself and Ginny it was only natural, but his first instinct said that perhaps his son was a little young for this new responsibility.

Harry had of course been a sixth year when he was captain and despite winning a Quidditch Cup that year he hadn't exactly been much help to the team by having detention during the final match. After the war Ginny had become the Gryffindor Captain for her seventh year. The more Harry considered it though he remembered that Oliver Wood had actually been the captain as a 5th year when he had first joined the team, so maybe it wasn't too out of the ordinary. Angelina had of course been a 7th year and he was also pretty sure that the troll-like Slytherin git Marcus Flint had been a 6th year. He wasn't sure however about that old pretty boy of a Ravenclaw Roger Davies or even when Cedric himself had taken the helm for the Hufflepuffs. In recent years Harry had seen his godson Teddy become Gryffindor captain as a 6th year and do a terrific job, winning two consecutive Quidditch Cups. Harry had had to laugh as he'd recalled how Teddy had been just as proud and excited as James was now to have that badge.

As a reward for this notable achievement Harry and Ginny had both agreed on getting James a new broom for the upcoming term and had thus sat down with him to see what he liked. Now it should be mentioned that James Sirius Potter was nobody's fool and so when someone said they would like to get him a new broomstick, whatever he wanted, he didn't let the opportunity go to waste by any means. He knew his parents had tops Quidditch connections (because for Merlin's sakes they were both ridiculously famous) and he was honor bound to use this fact to his advantage. James, the super-fan that he was, already read every available issue of _Which Broomstick _andhis two favorite Quidditch magazines cover to cover and every time he went into Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade he spent hours in Quality Quidditch Supplies. Incidentally the only other store that could possibly measure up to it, in his opinion, was his Uncle George's place Weasley's Wizard Wheezes where he and Freddy kept themselves stocked on the latest pranks. This fifteen year old definitely knew his brooms, whether they were older than this Great Aunt Petunia or they hadn't even been released for sale yet.

Before that blessed letter had arrived from Hogwarts he had already spent most of his summer with his sights firmly affixed on the Smoke Streamer 7, a prototype broom just starting being manufactured by the Firebolt Broom Company. James already had a Firebolt 4, the latest public market-ready broom that the company had priced for sale, and last year he had scored 72 goals on it in 6 games. But it was the urge to get the newest, most advanced broom that had driven Harry Potter's son to suggest this nearly impossible buy. His mother had actually become quite a bit peeved though when he'd suggested the Streamer, which was something he considered totally off base, really so what if there were only ten of them made in all of the United Kingdom at the moment? Had they thought he was going to make this easy on them?

"Harry it's impossible to get that broom and he knows it! Your son has absolutely no concept of limits. He's trying to take advantage of our position as friends of the manufacturers just so he can inflate his image at Hogwarts!" Ginny had ranted. James had to chuckle at the mere memory of it, for two days simply the thought of his request had started a vein twitching in his mother's temple, that's how upset she had been. Of course it was only funny now because Ginny Potter had eventually calmed down and agreed to try and get the broom. And the young star Chaser didn't exactly expect it to materialize for him right away, as it would have if they'd popped on down to Quality Quidditch Supplies of course, but if the order did come in time for their first match against Slytherin all the better. In the meantime he would continue training on his "old" Firebolt 4. And if he really considered it though James honestly had his new position as a Gryffindor prefect to thank for his new broom even more so than his place as Quidditch Captain.

See what James hadn't noticed in his envelope the first time was another gold and red badge that gave him even more privileges and responsibilities. His sister Lily, now a second year, had chosen to open her own letter while James was running around the house showing off his Quidditch badge. Unable to mind her own business, as usual, she had also perused the contents of James's open one because unlike Albus's letter it was already unsealed. "James!" she'd yelled exasperatedly upon discovering the prefect's badge "James get back in here you've got to see this! You've gotten another badge you bloody git. Really what were Flitwick and Neville thinking?"

James, who had been in the next room showing his mother, Albus and Teddy (who had stopped in for his 4th breakfast that week) the badge, had strutted back into the kitchen looking confused. "Well it must be an extra copy in case I lose this one," he reasoned casually, and then finding this idea to be quite funny he'd added "Because we wouldn't want anyone to forget after all that I'm in charge now would we?"

Lily had looked scathingly at her older brother in that moment, sometimes he could be such an ass it was a miracle to her that he had so many friends. "No you bloody ponce it's something else and why they gave it to _you _makes no sense to me. It should be Jonah's really! He's saner at least" she'd replied holding the disk out for him to take. The eldest Potter child had taken the badge grudgingly, truly expecting it to be a double captain's badge, but after seeing a "P" on it instead of a "C" his brain had frozen in shock.

Al had just come into the room behind James still eating a piece of toast and wondering what Lily was making a fuss about now. Upon seeing the looks on both of his siblings faces he had said interestedly "What is it James?" After not receiving a response, Al had frowned and unceremoniously plucked the badge from his brother's fingers. "Wow" he had finally managed to say after having the badge's significance sink in to the point where he'd dropped his toast on the stone floor with surprise. After stooping down to retrieve the toast and brush it off Al had looked at Lily, who had simply been shaking her head and looking at James as if she had never seen him this way before. Like a possible authority figure.

"What will the guys say? Honestly though… what does this mean for me and Freddy? We have eight pranks planned for the first 3 weeks of school alone," James had finally said aloud. He had looked at his younger brother as if Albus was one of those Seers who could tell him how this changed his life.

"Well I'm sure you and Freddy can still keep the Marauders close to your hearts and prank away if you want. You'll just have to be a bit more discrete about it though. Unless you want your fellow prefect girl to have the burden of taking points from you," Al had said bracingly while retrieving his own letter from the table.

"No I suppose we won't want that," agreed James and he'd seemed heartened. Just because he had the responsibility of punishing others now it didn't mean he had to stop getting into things himself. This would probably make him a bloody hypocrite but he could so deal with that, at least in the short term. And this had no real effect on his favorite pastime of late night snack runs in the Invisibility Cloak, except that he might have less opportunity to make them on nights where he had to patrol the corridors. All and all he saw this whole prefect thing maybe working out ok provided his male friends weren't too peeved about getting passed over of course. James considered it wrong to step over his mates just for some stupid badge.

The younger Potter children had then noticed a sudden change in their brother's expression that made them quite sure that James was already over this shock in no time. He seemed intrigued with the idea of being a prefect, as it simply added to his public image, his versatility. "Mum," James had yelled at that point "Come see this" as he'd looked at both of the new badges fondly, holding them up side by side to compare.

"James Sirius you know I've already just seen your captain's badge and its wonderful love really, but there's only so much staring at it you can do. I know because the moment I got mine is still burned into my memory as well. Honestly it's probably been the same design for centuries! I promise I won't forget what it looks like any time soon or what it feels like to have it and neither will your father" Ginny faux-lectured good-naturedly as she'd come into the kitchen.

"No Mum this one's different," James had replied and he had given it to her then, expecting her to be even more shocked than he had been. James was currently on pace to get more detentions with Freddy than all the males in the last three generations of the Potter/Weasley clan combined and that was saying something. All the disciplinary letters from the Headmaster in just four years had already given Ginny Potter quite a few grey hairs at the age of 38.

"P?" Ginny had murmured looking from the badge to each one of her kids in turn. "But P stands for…for prefect," she'd mused as the possibility suddenly dawned on her "James this is a prefect's badge! And it's yours…that's fantastic. I'm so proud of you and your father certainly will be too. Goodness, to think I would ever see this day! It's even more surprising then when your Uncle Ron became a Prefect. Merlin knows our family had never expected that one! I don't know who to owl first. Ted come look at this! James is a Prefect now too." After that she'd walked out of the kitchen to look for a quill and parchment in order to write a note to Grandma Molly and Granddad Arthur proclaiming yet another family success story.

He had shown Teddy the prefect's badge in the dining room as the lanky 22-year-old had been finishing his sausages. Teddy had been just as intrigued by the concept of James Potter II "The prefect" as Albus and Lily. Because while he was older than them all he was still young enough to understand the problems the badge could create. "Hmm what will your boys think about this I wonder? I remember we took the mickey out on Trevor's brother Landon for ages when he got one. Terrible shock to the lazy old stiff," he'd chuckled fondly "But now look at him, he's a well-disciplined Quidditch star. I really can't see where his being a prefect falls into the picture there though. Not really. Well congratulations Jamesie, no matter what anyone thinks it looks like you've one-upped all of us old timers for sure. Plenty of Quidditch captains, prefects and even Head Boys and Head Girls in this family, but no one I can think of ever did both. Why even Vic was a prefect, then Head Girl and a Quidditch player to boot but she was never the team captain" he'd pointed out. Then, seeing the mix consternation and even deeper pride now on the younger wizard's face Ted had chuckled again and given James a brotherly clap on the shoulder. "I can see I've given you lots to think about," he'd teased rising from his chair and winking at Lily and Al "But I must eat and run! I'll be back for dinner though, probably with Vic I think. See you later." And before James or his siblings could react he'd apparated away to work.

Of course James had already spoken to his friends before this train ride about receiving both badges and it turned out that they were in fact more than pleased over it. Apparently none of them, even Jonah, who Lily had made a point of mentioning, wanted either badge. As they had put it Quidditch captain would have been nice, but who wanted to be the bad guy who got everyone up for those early morning training sessions? Not only that… who wanted to be the Prefect charged with patrolling the corridors dealing with snotty little 1st and 2nd years or, even worse, entitled 6th and 7th years? They would rather be hanging out in the Room or wherever else instead. James was admittedly relieved that his friends had taken the news well. But it also struck him as a bit sad that they were all so lazy that they didn't welcome any responsibilities. Not that he was terribly stoked on those aspects of being a prefect either, it was that just he could actually see himself growing to enjoy the influence he would have on the students, the Slytherins in particular.

He had walked half-way up the train by now, with his brother and cousin still behind him looking for all their friends. The Gryffindor students had this sort of new tradition forming where they would clump together their compartments on the train into a row. They found it made it easier to find each other that way when some issue invariably arose. James, Albus and Lily were pretty close, as far as siblings went, and their cousins also pervaded each of the Potter's friendship circles. Freddy Weasley, only son and firstborn of George Weasley and Angelina Johnson, was a 5th year like James and his younger sister Roxanne was a 2nd year like Lily. Rose, Ron and Hermione's eldest, was a 4th year like Albus and her brother Hugo was 2nd year like his cousins Roxanne and Lily. The only other two Weasley's left at Hogwarts were Lucy, Percy and his wife Audrey's second daughter, who was a 7th year, and also Louis who was entering his 6th year. Louis Weasley was Bill and Fleur's youngest child and only son. All of the Potter/Weasley cousins were Gryffindors. It was however debated, (sometimes heatedly) whether or not some of them should have been Ravenclaws, particularly Lucy and her older sister Molly or Rose. Naturally this overload of family in one house could have either created turmoil between the cousins or brought them closer together. It had luckily ended up being the latter outcome, because when you shared dorms, played Quidditch and took the same classes together it turned out your bond as family became even stronger. This was something the cousins' parents were reasonably relieved about.

James Potter was guilty at the moment of dawdling, figuring that, as late as he was already, perhaps by the time he made it to the head of the train the prefect's meeting would be over and that Heather could just fill him in on the details later. So, suddenly deciding that this was as fine an option as any, he started actively looking for the other Gryffindors along with Al and Hugo. "Well they aren't in any of these," said James cheerfully popping his head in and out of compartments as they walked.

"You're stalling because you don't want to go to your prefect's meeting," said Albus knowingly, picking up on his brother's stunt right away "What's the matter James? You think it'll be too boring or are you afraid that they'll say they sent the letter to the wrong Gryffindor?" Hugo snickered at Albus's joke but then stopped in case James had found it offensive. Hugo was a bit of a wimp and he knew that even though James was his cousin, that didn't necessarily mean that he wouldn't take a swing at him and then choose to apologize only after it was all over.

James raised an eyebrow at Hugo and then looked peculiarly at Albus trying to decide whether it had been a straight up joke or a real slight. Did his brother truly think they had sent the badge to the wrong Gryffindor, that he didn't deserve to be prefect as much as the rest of the other fifth year boys in their house? "I am not afraid," said James stubbornly "That's my badge and somehow or another I've earned it. What is it Al you still think I can't possibly be a Prefect? I'm sure Lily agrees. You can go and have another laugh about with her then! I'm sure you've done so already," He looked at Albus defensively and Hugo just stood there uncomfortably as he towered over Albus's shoulder.

"Hold on James. Why not just take it easy? Merlin for someone who is such a joker you have such a limited sense of humor when it comes to yourself. Lily and I both think it's well deserved and that you'll be a fine prefect because we know our brother can do anything he sets his mind to" replied Albus smoothly.

"Really?" said James backtracking stupidly "Well um… thanks… if you really mean it that is." The elder Potter looked embarrassedly at the train floor and scratched the short hairs on the back of his neck wondering how stupid he could get to so accuse his always steadfast brother. Maybe he was transferring some of his own doubt onto Al.

"I do. We do" replied Albus steadily and he continued to gaze seriously at his brother from behind his square-rimmed spectacles. James (and every else who mattered) knew that Al's silver, squared off glasses had become just one of the many subtle touches he had created in order to differentiate himself from their father.

Both Potter sons loved their father but sometimes it was hard, particularly with him being _the greatest_ wizarding hero of all time and also obviously because they looked so much like him. They both had his trademark untidy Potter black hair, his thin, pale face and his skinny build. Albus Severus also had his uncanny emerald green eyes and wore glasses. When Albus grew taller there was no doubt that he would be mistaken for his father all the time, at least at first glance that is. Thankfully the scar was not genetic, although sometimes it felt like it was. James and Albus had both been out shopping with their mother before and had had strangers automatically stare pointedly at their foreheads as if looking for something. When they had been younger the boys had experienced confusion over these incidents, but now (after really having learned about his role in the war) they just found it exasperating, apparently some people were too dumb to realize that they were clearly too young to be Harry Potter. Sometimes James didn't know how Al stood it, he was even a Seeker like Harry had been. James knew that if he wasn't a Chaser, or if he didn't have perfect vision and hazel eyes to set him apart he would probably go crazy thinking about the endless comparisons people could make. But Al was tough and sensible; he had grown far less sensitive after his first 3 years at Hogwarts. James was sometimes disappointed that his brother wasn't the same gullible youth who had been convinced by him that he was going to be a Slytherin because now he was much harder to tease. At the moment though, James understood that it was himself that had been acting sensitively about the prefect's meeting and that Al had just been behaving like his usual astute self. This realization embarrassed James a little, despite him only being in the company of family, and he promptly decided to try and make the meeting after all.

"I think I'll be going to that meeting now boys. Be good chaps and put Aether and my trunk in the appropriate compartment when you find it won't you?" he asked. He handed Hugo the handle of the trunk (after successfully wedging his broom inside it) and the cage in which his male Northern Spotted owl was still sleeping. Albus was unable to carry either because he had his hands full already transporting his male tawny named Pollux and his own sizable trunk.

"Sure thing Jamesie," said Hugo grinning now that the tension appeared to be past. Albus shrugged and nodded his assent as well, so with his pet and his belongings well taken care of James took his leave of the two boys and trotted up the train more quickly than before.

Outside the compartment that he had been instructed to go to James paused momentarily to ruffle his hair just so. It might have appeared hopelessly vain to a stranger but James did it not only to look cool, but also because it calmed his nerves. Upon opening the compartment door every head turned in his direction and the Head Boy promptly stopped speaking. Feeling himself go a bit hot under the collar James said "Err sorry I'm so late. I got held up," and he quickly sought out a seat in order to get off the spot. Thankfully, a seat was readily available and waiting for him next to one of his good friends Heather Ramsden, his fellow Gryffindor fifth year and new prefect. Heather smiled amusedly at his embarrassment like only a true friend could as he took the seat under everyone's continued scrutiny.

"Ah Potter we were just wondering about you," said Mickey Robards, the new Head Boy, cheerfully greeting him. Mickey was a 7th year Gryffindor and a real sport so James knew the popular 17-year-old would be a great Head Boy. Mickey's father Gawain Robards had been Harry's first boss at the Auror office all those years ago before James had been born. Of course now, Harry was Head Auror and Gawain Robards, getting on in years, had retired from active duty several years ago to the best of his knowledge. James also knew that Mickey was the youngest in his family, having had his older brother and three sisters already graduate from Hogwarts. The Potter children had met Gawain Robards a few times and personally Al and James had both agreed that the man was totally serious and even a bit scary. But Mick wasn't much like his old man; in fact before becoming a prefect he had even helped James and Freddy with several of their finer pranks. This knowledge actually gave James an odd hope for himself, if the fun-loving Mickey could be elected Head Boy what was to say it couldn't happen for him two years from now?

"So Potter, we just assigned patrols and Miss Ramsden has agreed that the two of you will do it together on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Does this suit you alright?" asked Robards breaking into his power fantasy.

James spared Heather a brief glance marveling in the fact that she was confident enough to volunteer the both of them for certain nights. He also wondered how, as a lowly 5th year prefect, she had managed to score patrol for them on two nights that weren't on the weekend but this never the less pleased him. "Yea I'm good with that. Anything else important?" he responded casually.

"As a matter of fact yes there is" cut in the Head Girl snottily. Antila Davies was a Ravenclaw and just as serious as she was intelligent. Clearly Headmaster Flitwick had been covering all his bases by appointing the more rule-oriented Davies as Mickey's fellow head. As an aside, James supposed that Antila was pretty except she had this sort of severe nature that was off putting. She also didn't seem too concerned with attracting a boyfriend because she wore both her hair and uniform very plain and was rarely seen outside the library. Not that James preferred his girlfriends all glammed up…Antila was just standoffish at her best.

James blinked innocently up at the girl "Yes Antila what else can I do for you as a dutiful Gryffindor prefect at your command?" he asked coyly. All around the compartment the other prefects, including his cousin Lucy, began snickering and Mickey, for the sake of his new position, was trying his best to maintain a straight face behind Antila's back. Next to James, Heather was shaking gently with silent laughter because while she knew that, in all likelihood, James hadn't meant it as a joke she could plainly see that that really didn't matter to Antila. Unlike everyone else, the eldest Potter's face was completely neutral and he maintained a politely interested gaze at the now peeved Head Girl.

"Listen Potter I don't need your flippant attitude standing in the way of having a smooth year alright? I just wanted to add that your point taking privilege is not something to be used lightly. I see or hear about you abusing it and I will be in Flitwick's office getting it taken away from you faster than you can get up and down a Quidditch pitch on your broomstick!," she threatened him and her brown eyes narrowed pointedly. The seventh year then wheeled around, red in the face, and said "I guess that goes for everyone else too!" before sitting down huffily and folding her arms across her chest. James was shocked and wisely realized that now probably wasn't a good time to boast that he was getting an even faster broom.

Silence reigned as 21 pairs of eyes remained fixed on Antila until Mickey decided that this meeting was definitely over. "Ok," he said clearing his throat and loudly clapping his hands to get everyone's attention back "I think that we've made everything err… clear. We Heads will be in touch with the complete patrol schedules written up very soon. Lastly, please remember to guide the first years to their appropriate Common Rooms tonight and inform them of the current House password, which you should have received in your letters over the summer. If you can't remember the first password or any of the subsequent passwords for the month of September please ask Antila or me to verify them on the way out." He grimaced ruefully and looked like he couldn't wait to flee the tense train car.

Everyone began to rise and the first group was nearly out the door before Antila managed repress her anger enough to say to Mickey "Tell them about the thing with their badges."

Mickey looked apologetic upon realizing what he'd forgotten and he quickly darted in front of the door. "Sorry people one last thing. It has been explained to Antila and me that all our badges this year have a new feature. By the end of September you will all receive the next month's passwords through a Protean Charm worked into your badges. Keep in mind that the person who sets these passwords is Headmaster Flitwick himself so the message will come straight from him. This new experiment will cut down on both time-consuming meetings like these that are a hassle to schedule and it will also reduce the need to write down the passwords somewhere where they can be seen by other Houses. Staff has been complaining about the blurring of House lines via guests in Common Rooms that are not their own, whether invited or not. So keep that in mind, pass it along to your friends, the guests part not the password thing I mean, and umm meeting dismissed," he finished and stepped away from the compartment's exit. There were nods of approval from the elder prefects over this new plan and the fifth years just shrugged it off because they had never even experienced the old way.

As James filed out past Antila she glared at him and he glared back, almost stopping to have it out with the opinionated Ravenclaw right there. "Don't Jimmy" said Heather from directly behind him as she psychically pushed him out into the corridor. James kept shooting glances back at the prefect's compartment as the two Gryffindors went to find their friends and Heather likewise kept a grip on his t-shirt. She had known James since their first ride on the Hogwarts Express when James had almost beaten the crap out of a 5th year bloke who was hitting on his cousin Dominique. Heather recalled that the guy had been quite large and very stupid because he hadn't backed off after Dominique had declined a date with him no less than five times in 3 minutes.

James had been watching the exchange silently from a few feet away, originally letting the strong-willed Dom deal with the loser by herself for a while. But then the stupid oaf had grabbed her arm to prevent her from walking away and that had caused James to finally lose it. Heather remembered watching the tiny James from the window of her compartment as he had confronted the other boy fearlessly on his cousin's behalf. Of course she had not met him yet at that point and they had not been sorted, but at the time it had struck Heather as a very Gryffindor thing to do and that she would be lucky to have a friend like this raven-haired boy. Heather was a Muggleborn but she had already read about the four Hogwarts houses in Hogwarts: A History just to be prepared. James had been hopped up to the point of bursting and had promptly doubled the older boy over with a punch to the side of his face. The fifth year had quickly gone for his wand after that first hit but had never managed to utter a spell in James's direction. A furious Dominique had cast a full body bind spell on him while restraining her younger cousin at the same time. Eventually James had calmed down a bit under the watchful eye of Dom, who had begun lecturing him in what had sounded like to Heather at the time French. It had indeed been French and of course it made sense to her now because she knew that Dominique and a few of his other cousins had French blood. The angry blonde had then instructed James to go into a compartment and sit down before he got into more trouble.

The nearest one had been occupied by Heather, another girl and some random boy. James had sat there after his cousin had left him alone looking sulky and twirling his new wand between his fingers. Heather Ramsden had been unable to control her curiosity and so the first thing she had ever said to James Potter was "I bet your wondering how you could have used that thing instead of your fist."

James had looked up at her from across the compartment at this outburst and had suddenly smiled. Heather doubted to this day that she would ever forget that first experience with a James Potter smile, it was the first thing that had made her realize that the wizarding world was where she was meant to be. "Yea it would have been useful," he'd admitted "That jerk deserved more than a punch." The other girl present had frowned at this and then suddenly gotten up and left them. Heather remembered that James had said then "She must be headed for Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff then because I've never met a Gryffindor or Slytherin who couldn't stand to hear about a fight if I'm being honest."

Heather had smiled back at him then and the other boy had said "You've got that straight Potter."

She remembered perking up at the name Potter but it hadn't meant too much to her then, she'd only read it while skimming her new books. "Harry Potter" she'd said randomly.

James had scowled momentarily at that before saying "He's my father," Then turning to the boy he'd replied "You look familiar, haven't I seen you around before? Say at a couple of Puddlemere United games and perhaps once at my house?" That last part had sounded sort of random to Heather. Who didn't know like everybody who had been to their house?

The sandy-haired stranger had grinned and risen from his seat to shake James's hand. "I'm Trevor Wood, son of Oliver Wood. You know he's the Puddlemere coach and also an old friend of your father's. I was with him when your father gave us a tour of your house last summer. I saw you in the yard on your broom doing loop the loops. As a matter of fact you flew right past the window I was looking out of and I swear you looked back at me. Your one hell of a flyer let me tell you that's a fact" he'd said enthusiastically.

"You are Oliver Wood's son? Man he's like a Puddlemere legend! I remember watching him at the end of his career and I swear your old man almost turned me into a Keeper. Except being a Chaser is sooo much better. I guess I can't help it that I like scoring goals better than blocking them. Anyway I'm James Sirius Potter so now we're officially introduced," James had said shaking Trevor's hand.

"Well I'm glad of you being a Chaser because I'm a Keeper so now we won't have to compete against each other at tryouts. I don't really know how it came about me being a Keeper but I guess it's hard to avoid it when you live with two of them" Trevor had joked earnestly.

"Who else is a Keeper then besides your old man?" James had asked interestedly. Heather had noticed his eyes light up almost as soon as Trevor had introduced himself. Any bystander could've noticed that these two were bound to be fast friends going forward.

"My older brother his name is Landon. He's a sixth year now and on the Gryffindor team" Trevor had explained.

At that moment Dominique had returned with Teddy Lupin, her sister Victorie, their cousin Freddy and another young girl. After raising more of a fuss over the fallen boy, who it turned out, was some Hufflepuff duffer, Victorie had had Teddy deal with getting the kid out of the hallway and put right. At that point she, Dominique and Teddy had left the young group alone in the compartment. Freddy had introduced his new friend as Keira Morley, a first year like the rest of them. The group had bonded over the rest of the journey, which had included Exploding Snap, a lively Quidditch debate, of which everyone but Heather already had an opinion of, snacks off the trolley and eventually a reenactment of James's fight by the insatiable Trevor. After all being sorted into Gryffindor later that evening the group had been friends ever since with the inclusion of another girl, Rigel Wicklow, and another boy named Jonah Henley. The septet was very close, four of them played on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and they all did reasonably well in their classes. The first four summer vacations had been filled with over-night visits (usually at the Potter's), picnics, swimming trips, pranks and Quidditch matches. At the moment only two members of the group were romantically involved with each other, Trevor Wood and Rigel Wicklow had started dating at the end of last year. None of them knew if the romance was fated to last but they certainly weren't sweating it just yet.

Heather wasn't thinking that this situation was exactly like the one from the day they had met, James wasn't going to actually hit Antila, but it was similar in the fact that he was utterly wound up. The young girl was now leading the way because she had been to their compartment before the meeting whereas James had not, thus making him useless as a guide. She couldn't help but be distracted however by the fact that he was slowing them up with constant stops to look behind them for Antila. Every time she felt him hesitate Heather would give his shirt front a mighty tug, both to keep him moving and also to emphasize to the young hothead that arguing (any more) with the Head Girl before classes even started would be extremely stupid.

"I can't believe that wench!" James was muttering darkly "She never even leaves the bloody library. I hope she gets lost on her first patrol because she only knows the routes to her classrooms. Ha I'd like to see her find the kitchens or…or catch kids making out behind that statue of Gregory the Smarmy. She'll be a hopeless, miserable Head Girl. Mark my words I hope the Head's bedrooms lock her out and she has to sleep in the hallway…" He stopped ranting as they halted outside a particular compartment and he reached for the door. It was the one their friends were in, he knew it because the blinds were down with one of them colored scarlet, the other gold, something that just reeked of Freddy's creativity. Heather however pulled his arm back before he could open it and she turned him around to face her.

The fifteen-year-old boy's chest was hyperventilating with agitation beneath his flimsy tee shirt, his face was flushed bright red and his fists were balled up at his sides in frustration. "Jimmy please relax. Don't go in there all worked up. You'll get Trevor and Freddy worked up just as bad, Keira and Rigel will want to go and slap the bitch around and Jonah will want to have her sacked before the Opening Feast touches those gold plates. You need to calm down before we tell them and then maybe we can all assess this rationally," she suggested.

"Heath! What would be wrong with all that? That crazy bitch needs a bloody reality check," James hissed obstinately.

Clearly boys are dense she thought as James stood there with his muscular arms now folded over his chest and frowning. "Oh for Merlin's sakes breathe Jimmy, she's just a silly girl who is drunk on her newly obtained power. It's more everyone else's fault that it is yours anyway, we were the ones laughing. She'll cool out eventually and if she doesn't you'll only get the better of her by keeping your head" argued Heather. James scowled, slowly exhaled and un-balled his fists but kept his arms folded, admitting that she had a point without even saying a word.

Heather looked him over and took in his distinctly cool Muggle-ish dress. His t-shirt was white with the Puddlemere United crest in navy blue and the team emblem of two crossed gold bulrushes on it as well. His blue jeans were a tight fitting dark wash and she could see distinct wear marks on them where his legs normally gripped a broomstick. His jacket was to die for, made from the dark green hide of a Romanian Longhorn dragon and embellished with pale gold buttons that may or not have been real horn from a Longhorn. It was lined with a soft puffskein fur and charmed to fit him just right. Heather also knew that its soft fur lined pockets were magically expandable because she had seen James put things as big as a school book or a Quaffle in them before. It was his most favorite piece of clothing and it had been a gift from his Uncle Charlie three summers ago for his birthday with a matching dragon hide wallet to go with it. Completing his ensemble today were green canvas trainers, no doubt to play off the jacket, and his standard black belt made of Hebridean Black dragon leather. With little opportunity left before he was relegated to his school uniform and because of the rainy day it only made sense that he was wearing the prized jacket now.

James bobbed up and down impatiently on his heels and drummed his fingers against his arm as they both remained folded defensively. "There I've relaxed can we go in now? By the way what's with the whole Jimmy thing today? You know I only allow like two of those a day so people don't think I'm going soft" he joked.

Heather shrugged unapologetically, she knew James didn't approve of the nickname Jimmy outside of his family and his six best friends, even then he preferred they use it sparingly. Personally she called him Jimmy right now because she knew it distracted him a little bit and anything that kept him distracted while he was angry was a good thing. "So float me a loan on Jimmies," she teased coyly.

"Oh I just might be able to do that. You know why?" he rebutted, quirking an eyebrow at her teasingly.

"Ok why?" she asked, curiously observing the sudden seriousness that had appeared in his hazel eyes.

"Well because when you call me Jimmy, I don't know what it is but it doesn't make me sound like someone's cuddly pet Crup like it does when everyone else says it," he offered up matter-of-factly.

Heather was a bit startled by the sincerity of this statement and she tried to decide whether this was really true or if he was just being dramatic. She concluded however that maybe it was true, while Jonah never called him Jimmy at all, the other girls besides her said it affectionately and Fred and Trevor always did it mockingly. "Well… I guess that's a compliment so thanks… Jimmy," she replied, now feeling corny for saying it again. James grinned charmingly at her, waved off the thank you and finally opened the compartment door to join their friends.


	2. Gryffindor Antics

Chapter 2: Gryffindor Antics

Authors Note: I do not own anything referencing Harry Potter be it characters, settings or otherwise. Thanks for reading! Any feedback you want to throw at me is also appreciated!

"Here cometh our esteemed prefects," said Trevor sarcastically as they walked in and sat down. Heather parked herself in between Rigel and Keira and James choose the window seat on the opposite side of the compartment next to Freddy. The stocky red-head was lazily playing with his pet bullfrog Whizbang. Freddy would conjure a flying speck from his wand and Whizbang would calmly eye it before darting out his tongue and touching it. Upon making contact the speck would disappear and then they would do it all over again, Whizbang never missed. It was like catching flies to him, except without the annoying flies. It was just like Freddy to have gotten a pet frog (playing off the fact that students were allowed a toad) instead of the customary owl even though he could have chosen whatever animal he wanted as a gift from his parents. Jonah, who was next to Fred, spared them both a wave and then went back to reading some thick textbook-like volume. Trevor, as per the usual, was not seated and appeared to currently be regaling the group with the blow-by-blow of some elaborate duel.

"Esteemed indeed," James retorted, putting on fake airs to say "But unfortunately, now it's back to the paltry peasant life with ragamuffins like you lot if you know what I mean." He managed to conjure up a weak grin but he still wasn't feeling amused.

Eye-rolling ensued and Rigel asked immediately "How did the meeting go?" Nosy buggers they are thought James as he noticed everyone's attention perk up at once. Jonah actually shut his book and waited with rapt attention for either of them to recount what had occurred in prefect's world. James could easily see that his friend hadn't been completely disinterested in being a prefect after all.

The two Gryffindors who had attended the meeting looked at each other carefully, trying to figure out how to explain it in the easiest way. "Well," started Heather "James was late, ("No surprise" quipped Fred abruptly) so why don't I go ahead and tell it from the beginning?" James was relieved to have Heather do the explaining and he leaned back in his seat, keen on remaining as calm as possible during the rehashing. 

"Right ok, I suppose we should start with whose Head Boy and Girl. Does anyone want to take a guess?" the Muggleborn asked the crowd.

"Um… Clive Bristow as Head Boy maybe?" guessed Rigel. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she mentally calculated his social/academic qualifications.

"That Ravenclaw toe rag? Ugh, I hope not. At least say it's anyone but Finley Mills. You know the Hufflepuff bloke? He's really dense," said Keira making a face.

"What's wrong with Bristow? He's smart…and distinguished," Rigel argued with her pointedly. Heather ducked her head and leaned forward in her seat on pure instinct, she was used to her female friends bickering over her head about random nonsense.

"Distinguished? Hardly! I think you the words you're really searching for are snobby and uptight. And sure he's smart; he always makes sure everyone knows it. He's an arrogant, toe rag sod," reiterated Keira and she wouldn't say any more about him. Keira Morley was a very no nonsense girl, if she thought you were a toe rag you would have to do a lot to make up for it, that is if you cared. Rigel on the other hand, looked like she wanted to continue championing Bristow for some reason but she changed her mind after a quick glance at Trevor. Somehow she must've acknowledged that perhaps it wasn't appropriate to gush about another guy in front of one's boyfriend. Nobody said anything about this non-verbal exchange between the two love birds though, mostly because they didn't know how to approach it. No one wanted to assume Rigel suddenly had a thing for Clive Bristow.

"Robards," suggested Jonah, suddenly deciding it was best to continue talking about Heads in order to let the awkward moment blow over.

"Yea Robards would be a decent Head Boy," agreed Freddy and all the other non-prefects in the compartment nodded their approval as well waiting before gazing at Heather for conformation. 

"Yea Mickey Robards is Head Boy," she informed them happily "Now, any guesses for our Head Girl?" They all thought a few moments, this group of 5th years never turned down a good guessing game.

"I'm guessing Ivory Dillinger?" Trevor threw out there "Gwen Rothchild maybe? Or perhaps Blair Turnbull even?" he continued rapidly.

"Hush Trev, let someone else guess," scolded Keira "How about that Hufflepuff Claire Cain? After all it doesn't matter if you weren't a prefect when it comes to Heads." Everyone nodded in agreement at that observation.

"I have a feeling its Antila Davies," offered Jonah casually. James gave a derisive snort at that moment and had to force himself to look out the window as a distraction.

Heather was surprised that Jonah had guessed both Heads all by himself and confirmed the answer of Davies to everyone else before adding "But how did you guess Jonah?" He shrugged and thumbed at the edge of his book as though he was already itching to get back to it.

"Henley's a Seer in disguise," said Fred and he ruffled the short, skinny wizard's white-blond hair affectionately. Jonah flinched and brushed him off.

"Yea he already has the huge, dopey glasses and the creepy eyes. All he needs are the layers of shawls and some loud, heavy bangles to complete the transformation," added Trevor teasingly. Jonah scowled at that and started swatting at the two jokesters with his book. It was quite a sight really, tiny, frail little Jonah with his large seafoam green eyes (not at all creepy really) and black coke-bottle glasses attempting to beat on the burly and tall Fred Weasley, Gryffindor Beater, and the equally large Trevor Wood, Gryffindor Keeper. 

Freddy sprang up from the seat, grabbed his wand from his pocket and promptly turned the book into a cardboard box, making it no longer a painful weapon. Once he realized that the object he was wielding was now useless, Jonah threw the box at Fred's bright red head and frowned. "Fix my book Weasley," he demanded "It cost me 12 galleons at Flourish & Blott's and I need it for Ancient Runes."

Freddy laughed at Jonah as the box bounced harmlessly off his arm. But then, knowing his moment of fun was over, he dutifully picked it up off the floor, waved his mahogany wand at it again and muttered the counter spell. Suddenly, the briefly cardboard rectangle was a book again, its gold embossed title reading _Rycroft's Rune Guide for Magical Relics_. "See all better Henley my little-know-it-all friend," he said and handed Jonah his huge volume back with a cheeky smile.

"You and James haven't told us who this year's new prefects are for Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin yet," mentioned Rigel, who was still desperate for gossip.

"Actually James hasn't said anything," Keira calmly butted in and she looked interestedly at him. Things like this rarely escaped her attention.

James could see everyone's reflections in the window glass because this wet, grey English day meant they'd turned the lights on all over the train. His jaw was still set in great annoyance after Antila had, for all intents and purposes, ruined his first prefect's meeting but he was still actively listening to his friends chatter. He had actually stopped brooding for a second to smirk at Freddy and Jonah's reflections during their little scene, but only for a second. "It's Heather who's telling the story we agreed," he replied casually to the bait and did not turn away from the window because he could tell they were all looking at him.

"Yes indeed," said Heather loudly in order to get the attention focused away from James again as much as possible "But I keep getting interrupted."

"So get on with it Heath and no more guessing," suggested Trevor semi-annoyed as he studied his best friend's expression from his reflection. Trevor wasn't normally a patient guy and he wanted to know _right now_ who or what had stuck a pole up James's ass at the moment. But he realized they would get to it soon enough if Heather kept talking and everyone else just listened. 

The brunette Muggleborn stuck her tongue out at Trev childishly over his demandingness before getting on with it. "Well for the 'Claws its Dane Scarborough and Kristen Stickney and for the 'Puffs its Niles Trembley and Langston Harmon. So lastly for those surly Slytherins it's Jasper Grenaumort and Indus Harlow," she said. The Gryffindors chewed this information over and came to the conclusion that, aside from the Slytherins it could have been worse. Trevor was already muttering about how much he considered Jasper scum and Rigel mentioned for the zillionth time since first year that Indus Harlow was the witch's version of a skank, whatever that actually meant. James, who could usually Slytherin bash with the best of them, ignored this prime opportunity and it did not go unnoticed.

"Say did you all know that Langston Harmon actually came on to me last year in the back of Honeydukes?" Fred commented incredulously and he snuck his cousin a questioning with his glance eyebrows raised.

"Yea you may have mentioned it several times… enough times in fact that all summer I was struck randomly by the image of her kissing you up against a barrel of Fizzing Whizbees," replied Keira huffily as if the image made her sick. Heather wasn't sure however if it made her sick in a "that's disgusting" sort of way or if it was more an "I'd rather you kiss me" way but it was something she would bring up later in their dormitory away from the boys.

Freddy, of course, took it that she meant it the first way and chuckled in response to the idea that him and Langston could be so scarring. "Ah well I'm just saying for a Hufflepuff she's quite errr… forward. No wonder she's prefect. I might have to reassess my turning her down. Would you say you agree Trev?" he asked as slyly as possible for him (which wasn't very).

"No I wouldn't change my mind personally. She has a weird nose and her eyes are creepy, in that she has this thing where she stares at you but you can't be sure she's even seeing you? It's odd," Wood concluded and he actually shuddered involuntarily thinking of Langston's stare.

Fred frowned and considered this. He really did attract the weird ones, and Langston was no different. "Yea… it is odd. Maybe I shouldn't re-explore after all," he decided. Rigel nodded at him fervently, Heather grimaced and Keira attempted to appear convincingly disinterested. 

"Well what else happened?" interjected Jonah, ignoring the possibility of a serious romance between Freddy and Ms. Harmon of Hufflepuff on the grounds that she was a bit nice for him. Fred Weasley was kind, but he was also a trouble maker who often times didn't spare his victims feelings when performing his crazy schemes. Jonah didn't think Langston Harmon would able to bear the unfairness of Freddy's random pranks for too long because some of them came off, quite frankly, as harsh. He could have, of course, pointed this out aloud. But it would no doubt have caused a mindless discussion to evolve about all Langston Harmon's particulars; from the sound of her voice to that supposed mole, ever apparent, on her left shoulder. It seemed like it was up to him, as usual, to move the conversation along so that they didn't dwell on such inane things for very long.

Heather picked up on his cue and reported "We set patrols, went over what to look for on our routes…"

"Sneak thieves, horny teenage wizards, and chimaeras," interrupted Freddy as he ticked off possible patrol disruptions on his fingers.

"Enough Fred," groaned Trevor, rolling his eyes and thinking about how just listening in this group was impossible "Or we'll never get caught up before Hogsmeade Station."

"Cornish Pixies and astronomy geeks," the red-head persisted in a quieter voice, testing Mr. Wood's delicate patience. 

Trevor glared at his second best friend warningly and purposefully patted at his wand in his jeans pocket. The two boys were great friends but very alike in the fact that they were incorrigible. They always knew just the right buttons to press when it came to getting the other's goat and often they went ahead and pressed them just to be spiteful. "Chimaeras," snorted Keira suddenly picturing a violent chimaera lurking behind the castle tapestries and statutes waiting to challenge the prefects. That'd be the day Hogwarts went to the next level in crazy.

Heather smiled at the thought herself and resumed speaking. "The other thing we did was learn a brief history of our position, you know like famous witches and wizards who once were prefects and whatever? Anyhow that was courtesy of the Head Girl and no doubt supposed to inspire us and then…" Her voice trailed off as she became suddenly hesitant to go further. She flicked her eyes over to James and then quickly back again.

"And then what?" insisted Rigel and she followed Heather's gaze to James and back.

"Well then… James walked into the compartment," responded the prefect simply. She gave him a helpless shrug, indicating it was hopeless to stall discussing it anymore.

"What did you say?" said both Trevor and Keira automatically turning towards the boy in question. They did know him too well to assume otherwise. 

James finally turned away from the window to acknowledge them and merely answered coolly "Nothing really."

"Nothing really?" echoed Rigel, she sounded doubtful and eyed James closely.

"Well," said Heather seeing an opening and jumping back in "Robards immediately told him about our patrol assignment and asked him if that sounded good. James said it suited him fine and asked if there was anything else you know… important." She paused and unconsciously built up the drama before the story hit its climax.

"Sounds alright so far," Jonah stated obviously. Trevor literally tutted at his scrawny companion and bit his lip, as if suppressing his reaction until they reached the point.

Heather nodded in agreement "It was alright. Until then Antila dove into the conversation with her bitch on. She insisted, rather snobbishly I must say, that there was indeed more he needed to know. So James then asked what he could do for her as a 'dutiful' Gryffindor prefect and well… she thought he was…um cheeking her on purpose." Everybody grinned at this statement except James and Heather who knew what happened next.

"What did she do about it Jamesie?" inquired Fred, gleefully assuming that his cousin had, in fact, done on it purpose to piss the girl off (he would have). The eldest Potter simply shook his head and grunted menacingly.

Heather sensed his rage building again so she hastily started in on what happened next. "It wasn't really his fault. We all started snickering behind her back but not James! And wasn't really that funny anyway, it was just the context and his typical innocent tone that did it. If he'd done it on purpose it would have been much funnier I'm sure," she said shooting James an apologetic look (indicating she felt partially responsible for the Head Girl's embarrassment) and actually smiling a little.

"Bet Antila didn't think of that," noted Jonah calmly, his head buried in his textbook again. His friends were used to that though, they'd often have conversations where everyone got caught up and failed to notice the little bookworm slipping away into his mobile security blanket.

"But what did she actually do?" insisted Trevor, rapidly losing patience. He was beginning to think that this whole thing wasn't going to actually be worth the buildup it was receiving. 

"She blew a fuse," said Heather wincing at the memory "She started threatening James, vowing to revoke his privilege of taking house points if she even sensed he was abusing it. I mean, she definitely singled him out and implied that it was only a matter of time before he got out of bounds. Then she promised that when it did happen she would be in Flitwick's office raising hell before James could even get up and down a Quidditch pitch on his broomstick. After that, to save face I imagine, she threatened to keep a close eye on everyone else but by then you could totally tell it was just an afterthought." All the 5th year Gryffindors were now a bit stunned as they considered this information. Where did the Head Girl get off making threats to their friend over some little comment?

"That's an oddly specific reference, the whole broom thing. Clearly she thinks she has you figured out James," mused Jonah seriously and he actually looked up from his book again. Freddy no longer looked amused and his jaw had gone slack with surprise. Trevor Wood was now mutinous upon deciding that this incident was truly a big deal after all. He would never stand for some bitch taking shots like that at him or any of his friends but he didn't know what to do about it. Of course, if Antila had simply been a guy he would have chosen to deck or duel the mouthy prat at his first chance. Sadly though, she wasn't a guy and thus the only thing he could think was that there was nothing left for it but to let Rigel and Keira handle it girl on girl.

"That's bang out of order," raged Keira loudly expressing her opinion "Where is this pencil pushing toe rag bitch?" She looked furiously at the compartment door, as if Antila Davies would miraculously and conveniently materialize in her path. Upon (of course) not seeing the obnoxious Ravenclaw, the young blonde witch contented herself with thoughtfully cracking her knuckles and peering at James.

"Are you alright James?" asked Rigel curiously, because she knew after 4 years of being his friend that no one spoke to James Potter like that without hitting a nerve. She was the first teen to curb their anger long enough to care about how this was affecting him, not that such sympathetic feelings were ever really expected from the boys or from the tomboyish Keira. Aside from Heather, Rigel was really the only one of the group who could handle her anger and then let it out at an appropriate, carefully calculated time. Incidentally, it had occurred to them all over the years that Jonah didn't really get angry, (he merely became indignant or annoyed) so no one was sure how he would ever control such a true emotion. The others however, were active volcanoes; James, Trevor, Fred and Keira had little to no impulse or emotional control. 

"I'll be fine Rige. Sticks and stones right?" said James in a forced casual tone and he glanced at her before giving an awkward shrug. For some reason all of a sudden he felt like downplaying his feelings. He knew his friends were an emotional lot and that they would have his back against anyone, but he was starting to wonder if maybe he had actually deserved what he'd got. Was this the reputation that preceded him? That he was some off the cuff, irresponsible troublemaker who had no respect for the rules? Or was Antila Davies just as out of line as they all seemed to think? James Potter knew his friends were biased in his favor and that they just couldn't give him the accurate representation of this situation that he so desperately wanted. Thus, he supposed he would just have to shake this altercation off and try to go forward behaving like a responsible prefect. He was still angry however, and that feeling wasn't going to leave him right away, no matter what he tried to convince the others of. 

"Some wench just threatened you and you're going to take it lying down?" exclaimed Freddy appalled. James mentally noted that this seemed a touch hypocritical coming from his usually affable, non-confrontational cousin. Freddy never got into it with anyone! Well…unless it was a prank war of course. But that seemed different.

Trevor, who had gotten up and started pacing, now spun around and glared determinately at James with a hard, fiery look in his cool grey eyes. "You can't let this go so easy mate! It'll validate everything she said if you don't fight back!" he growled.

James's own hazel eyes flashed dangerously as well. "Damn it Trev, Fred shut up! You think going to war with the Head Girl is a rational solution? I mean yea… my first reaction was to go toe to toe with her right there in the compartment but it would have been no help." Heather found this outburst ironic, for it was her who had convinced him to back off and now he was preaching it as his own brainwave. She didn't really care to correct him though, because at least he was talking sense to the other boys who needed to accept this.

"James you know she was dead wrong… right?" inquired Keira indignantly. She was also standing now and the compartment was starting to feel more cramped than usual from Heather's prospective.

James tiptoed around this question from the half-blood with the light brown eyes by saying "Let's just take this conflict slow for a change. If it dissolves from this day on then that's good for me… good for us right? If it escalates past threats I know we can handle it," He looked determinately at Keira, Freddy, Trevor and Rigel in turn imploring them to let it lie.

"Fine we won't hit her…yet," Rigel relented finally and she gave an angry toss of her wavy reddish-brown hair before adding "Right Keira?" Keira frowned and bit back another hostile retort before nodding stiffly in consent. She couldn't help wondering though, why on earth James Potter, of all people, was earnestly preaching patience all of a sudden. 

Trevor had resumed pacing up and down the cramped compartment no doubt trying to square with letting this insult on their group lie. James could not catch his best mate's eye as he went back and forth so he chose to stare down his cousin instead. Freddy's deep blues radiated with all his Gryffindor and family loyalty combined as he absentmindedly stroked Whizbang's head and James had no doubt that he was planning a nasty, complex prank for Antila. "Freddy we will not be pranking the Head Girl," he said insistently.

"For how long?" countered the mischievous Weasley, his disappointment was clearly written all over his face. It would've been such a great prank, he was already certain of it.

"For at least a couple of months," James decided seriously, but he noticed that he couldn't bring himself to make it indefinitely. Fred nodded glumly and just like that, he was as convinced as the girls. He and James had been partners in crime since they were nappies for Merlin's sake! So yes, he would honor his cousin's wishes no matter how much revenge he personally wanted. "Say Jonah… you won't be sneaking off for a word with Professor Longbottom before the feast later right? Hypothetically in order to cite a complaint on the new Head Girl the first chance you get," said James innocently.

The puny blonde waved a hand at him dismissively and rolled his unusual eyes, as if the mere thought of this hadn't entered his mind. "Fine James, I will let this gross pronouncement of authority slide," he responded dully. Now the raven-haired youth needed only to placate Wood and then they could finally put this issue to rest for the moment. 

"Trevor," coaxed Rigel suddenly, as she reached out an arm to grab her boyfriend mid-pace. He stopped immediately but still involuntarily went to jerk his arm away in frustration. She remained undaunted. "What do you say we take James's lead on this one? Wouldn't it be nice to not be preoccupied with retaliation just this once?" she cajoled, attempting to meet his eyes with her speckled ones. The young pureblood's peepers were unusual even for the wizarding world and strangers never got tired of asking her about them. They were predominantly deep blue, similar in that regard to Fred's, but at different angles you could see unmistakable flecks of purple in the irises. Trevor often got caught up staring into them and lost touch with the world around him. But not right now.

Instead, the sandy brown-haired Keeper looked around the compartment at every one of his companions (besides James) trying to get someone to refuse to fold along with him. He knew he was stubborn, but so what as long as he was right. Antila Davies had no right, absolutely no right whatsoever, to browbeat James in front of all the prefects in the school over a mostly benign comment and some exaggerated hunch of how he would perform his duties. She deserved a reality check. Someone needed to show her that sane people didn't treat others like that on a whim. It made him boiling mad and usually his friends would be uncontrollable right there with him plotting to get even. The fact that they had gone and switched the tables on him was exasperating, not to mention totally unexpected. Trevor saw no one in the crowd offering any support. Keira was looking reluctantly neutral and the others were completely on board with James waving the white flag. Alright, he thought sourly, if that's how it's going to be.

"Fine," he spat aloud, abruptly budging onto the edge of the seat next to Rigel and Heather. He looked across at James and detected that maybe he saw a hint the anger still hiding in his friend's memory and it oddly comforted him. James Potter may have decided to wait, but in the meantime it was clear he would not forget his grudge with Antila, and so neither would Trevor. He was now confident that in time his best mate would prove his current doubter so wrong that she would be choking on large helpings of crow. With this idea in mind, he eventually allowed himself to calm down and enjoy the afternoon. 

This unexpected incident had taken up half the journey to Hogwarts to resolve, and thus the fifth year Gryffindors were behind on their usual train activities. They had just started a spontaneous tournament of Exploding Snap and were also pondering the odds that Puddlemere United finished first place in the league at the end of the month, when the snacks trolley finally showed up. The pleasant witch who had been pushing this trolley since before Harry Potter's time would never outright admit it, but they suspected she was afraid to come near their compartment until she had already made the rounds once. The reason for the evasive tactics was probably because they had a tendency to buy out the rest of her stock every time they got on the Hogwarts Express. Thus, it was only fair if she liked to give the other students a chance to get their goodies first. James, Trevor and Freddy were, quite frankly, rich, and with fathers that were the head Auror, an international Quidditch star and a highly successful entrepreneur respectively, there was really no questioning why. On top of that, it just so happened, that all three of their mothers had earned their fair share of Galleons by playing professional Quidditch for a while. Ginny Weasley-Potter had been a Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies and Fred's mother Angelina Johnson-Weasley had also been a Chaser, but for the Tutshill Tornadoes instead. Trevor's mother was Katie Bell-Wood. She of course, had met his father while they were both Gryffindor students and teammates. But they hadn't pursued a romantic relationship until reuniting on the pitch after the war as members of the Puddlemere training program. Katie had been an elite level Chaser as well and, to be quite honest, it was hard on the boys to decide which of their mums had the most skill. Angelina and Katie had been fellow Chasers on the Gryffindor for several years and Ginny had gotten to play a bit with Katie one year when she hadn't been subbing in as the Seeker. All three women were good friends and, needless to say, when the friendly Quidditch matches broke out over the summer at get-togethers they made a great team, even when pitted against the younger age group. 

So, with accomplished Quidditch playing mothers and equally (if not more so) skilled Quidditch playing fathers, the three boys were blessed to be genetically capable athletes that had a thirst for Gryffindor domination running through their veins. The last Gryffindor fifth year on the current squad was Keira Morley, and what she didn't have in pedigree she made up for with tenacity and natural broom skills. She was a very capable Chaser also their only female player. The other three members were Albus, who played Seeker, and his two fourth year mates; Tristan Galloway (Chaser) and Dillon Carnaby (Beater). Gryffindor was currently experiencing a plethora of competent Quidditch players and they had developed a serious B-team who often practiced with the squad as a result. Lily and Hugo, who were now second years, quite plainly wanted on the A-team this time around, more than anything. But there were simply no spots for them. James knew that it was going to get messy really fast having to choose between his sister and/or cousin or his and Albus's mates for the A-team, so he tried not to think about it much. Young Lily Potter was a very versatile player (courtesy of countless pickup games at the Burrow and practices with her brothers) and played everything but Beater. She would however, have to beat out Trevor, both her brothers, Keira Morley or Tristan Galloway in order to make this year's team. Hugo was really just a Keeper with a sketchy amount of experience at Beater, and James hated to admit it but he knew his cousin would never match up with Trevor Wood. His best mate was like an octopus up in front of the rings, for it constantly felt like he had sprouted unknown limbs to make some of the saves he did. Now that didn't mean Hugo was a bad Keeper, like his father he was more than decent when he was relaxed, it just meant that Trevor was unnaturally skilled and therefore the only real choice (for the good of Gryffindor House) at the position. 

James had decided this literally about an hour after receiving his badge, but he hadn't broken it to Hugo (or Lily for that matter) just yet. The eldest Potter sibling knew that Lily would be furious on her cousin/best friend's behalf and that even if she made the team (which remained unlikely) she would not be calmed easily. James had discussed this problem with Albus in his room over the summer at a time when he had known (beyond a doubt) that Lily was out of the house with their mother. If Lily had been home, he was positive the conversation wouldn't have been a private one. Because the young red-head seemed to have a limitless supply of their Uncle George's extendable ears, which now had a handy camouflage feature, readily available at all times. At the Potter mansion, Albus, James and Lily were routinely unable to disappear alone or in a pair without the other sibling/siblings automatically becoming suspicious. This had been going on since Lily was about 5 or 6, so after about 6 years or so of it the trio had honed the art of sneaky down to a science. Albus (who was even more wary of their sister than James was) had merely advised him to duck, in case she threw a couple bat bogey hexes his way upon hearing the news about Hugh.

James had also asked him if a) he felt Lily deserved a spot on the team right now and b) if so in place of whom? Al had hemmed and hawed over these questions for a bit before deciding that Lily needed to wait for a spot to open up at Chaser, unless she flew so fast her broom caught fire and/or she scored 20 goals at the trials. In his logic Tristan, Keira and James had been a unit for two years already and were in great sync as a result. They practiced at least twice a week over the summer and had even created their own special formations that Hogwarts had never seen before. Lily was a better Chaser than a Seeker or Keeper, but no matter what she just needed to be patient and content herself with being the team's first alternate in case someone got hurt. The Potter boys rationalized that maybe this way, if Lily and Hugo knew that the other had to wait as well, perhaps it would ease the blow…a bit. James was still leery though, because as Captain this decision (not yet official) was on his head no matter how many people agreed with him and it was going to infuriate his competitive little sister to no end. He got the shudders just thinking about how she would try and get even and about the letter she would no doubt write their mum over such a betrayal. 

As per the usual they bought out the trolley and the sales witch rattled away shaking her head ever so slightly at the boys, who fumbled their way back into the compartment laden with mounds of sweets. James promptly ripped into a package of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor beans (he had always been the adventurous sort) and finally realized that while his trunk was present, his owl was noticeably absent. "Where's Aether?" he said curiously, but was not even remotely concerned. Aether was like him, to handsome for his own good, and so James routinely got asked if Aether could ride in Al or Lily's compartments because their friends loved him so.

"With your brother," Rigel informed him "Carrie and Rose insisted, so Al said he would return him later when he, Dillon and Tristan stopped by for a Quidditch team chat." James was unsurprised, but wondered for the billionth time why his cousin Rose was so taken with his owl when she had her own. It was a grey female Scops owl named Goshawk (after the writer of the Standard Book of Spells) and it was a direct descendant of his Uncle Ron's old Scops called Pigwidgeon or just 'Pig'. She had it well trained too, which was quite a feat, given the fact that all Pig's owlet offspring seemed to have a hyperactivity problem just like their father. James had a feeling that eventually Rose would suggest they cross-breed Goshawk and Aether to produce like tiny, dark brown owls with white markings. To him, this idea bordered on incest but he supposed the owls didn't really mind if their owners were cousins, it was all the same to them. 

Carrie Phelps was a Muggleborn friend of Al's with blue eyes and brown hair. She was funny and kind, especially to animals, but James knew that she wasn't allowed to have her own owl yet because she lived in the Muggle suburbs. Her parents apparently believed that an owl in the neighborhood would come off as strange, but had promised her if they ended up moving out towards the country more they would get her one. James remembered hearing from Albus that their father had once tried to persuade the Phelps's that an owl in Surrey wasn't really so conspicuous, as he had done it for six years, but Harry hadn't managed to budge them. Carrie had once confided in James a couple of summers ago that she was convinced her parents were full of shit, that moving to the country was never going to happen. So her plan was, that when she eventually settled down in the wizarding world (after leaving Hogwarts) she was going to get a _pair_ of owls instead of just one in order to make up for her current misfortune. After that conversation, James had become even more willing to let her use/see Aether whenever she wanted because he found her straight-forwardness and inability to be snowed by adults rather refreshing. The 6- year-old Aether was actually a very patient owl and more personable then his species tended to be. Aside from bonding with James, he responded favorably to Carrie as well, who always seemed to have an owl treat waiting for him. 

"You didn't fight them for him?" asked James teasingly, mostly in Rigel's direction. She didn't have an owl either, but unlike Carrie's parents hers didn't even bother to supply an excuse when they said no. In fact most of his friends didn't have pets, except Freddy (who had Whizbang) and Heather (who had a dog at home named Tottenham).

She shrugged at him and mumbled through a mouthful of Chocolate Frog, "He'll be back just in time to share my last frog. I mean I know he doesn't like them as much as chocoballs, but he still never turns them down."

James had once heard you weren't really supposed to give birds chocolate. He'd always considered it just a Muggle rumor, but either way it was now a perfect opportunity to guilt his friend. "Nice, kill my bird Ms. Wicklow! Death by Chocolate Frog, it'll make a great story in the Prophet. I can see it now. James Potter, son of the fantastical Harry Potter, his owl shamelessly poisoned by everyone's favorite of wizarding treats," he narrated dramatically.

Rigel was lounging in her seat with her head nuzzled into Trevor's shoulder area as he polished the handle of his Firebolt 4K (a special Keeper's model enhanced for balance). She was busily assessing the Chocolate Frog cards she had just acquired in order to try and trade with Keira for an elusive Aberforth Dumbledore, but paused in her quest long enough to give James a rude hand gesture for his load of crap. The hazel-eyed prankster was an impeccable story teller and many people, even those inside his circle of family and friends, had lots of trouble distinguishing between his lies and his truths. Rigel however, was one of the few that had ceased to be fooled by him years ago. You could say that reading people had always been one of her strong suits. "Tut Potter that's a Muggle thing you damn bull-shitter," she pointed out dully and James scowled. "Bloody hell, I just got two more cards of your Aunt Hermione. It's ridiculous. I mean don't get me wrong, the first one that she signed for me was neat but I don't need the extras. Blimey! Did she really get 11 O.W.L's like it says? Ruddy brilliant witch if you ask me. I'll be lucky to get half that many. I can't believe they're this year it's going to kill me," she exclaimed, suddenly sullen.

"I'm going to die before you," muttered Keira darkly as she attacked a dark Chocolate Frog headfirst and quickly reached into the pile for another.

"It won't be that bad," suggested Heather bracingly and James nodded to back her up. At this moment they looked like a cinch to him and he had yet to understand what all the fuss was about over some ruddy tests. Jonah made a noise from behind his book, half way between an amused and incredulous snort.

"Oh don't even start you overachiever," Keira butted in and she shot him a scathingly jealous glance that he didn't even bother to look up and see. Fred appeared nonplussed, for his fondest wish was to take over his father's business, play some pro Quidditch like his mum or, better yet, do both. Neither of those career choices required any O.W.L's, but even on the outside chance they did he imagined it wasn't very many. His mother and Grandma Weasley probably wanted him to get at least get more than his father, which he believed was three, and he guessed that wasn't too unreasonable. Trevor Wood sat there doubting that his Dad had put down his copy of _Which Broomstick_ for even 5 minutes over his 5th year exams. But he did know that his mother had been no slouch on hers. After retiring from the pros, her old school marks had gotten her accepted into the St. Mungo's intern program and she was now a fully licensed Healer despite taking care of four kids during the process. It was admirable what his mum did, don't get him wrong, but she put in a lot of hours and he didn't know if he could bring himself to sign up for the same like his older sister Brianna had. The youngest Wood wasn't stupid, but like James he didn't work terribly hard at being smart. He supposed he was good Quidditch player; he was, after all, the best Keeper at Hogwarts that he knew of at the moment. But that didn't mean much without a scout's recommendation. He knew from growing up around the professional league and by traveling around the globe with his old man for World Cups that there was more to becoming a pro than just being a good player, you had to also be lucky. 

Thoughts of O.W.L exams quieted the Gryffindors for a while until James and Trevor got bored and started bunging the crappy Every Flavor Beans that no one ever wanted at Jonah. Freddy, who was still seated beside the serious wizard, would levitate each offending bean away after impact so that Jonah had nothing to throw back at his torturers; it seemed like a perfect system to say the least. The girls watched benignly and smiled a little but they would not help the other boys torment him as they adored him too much. Eventually, the practically Albino Jonah actually blushed a faint reddish color in annoyance, snapped his textbook shut and groped for his wand. He muttered low under his breath and the stick of linden promptly caused three Bertie Bott's Every Flavor beans to torpedo themselves up the nostrils of his three male companions, one missile for each of them. While his fellow Gryffindor dorm mates started to whimper and curse a blue streak Jonah merely sat back and watched the results with satisfaction. 

In the midst of this commotion three other boys made their way into the compartment, carrying an owl and already dressed in their school robes. Upon assessing the situation Albus Potter smiled and handed his brother's owl off to Rigel before choosing to remain the spectator. He watched along with everyone else as James struggled to remove the offending bean on his own. Heather kindly had her wand drawn and was keen on helping Freddy out of his predicament, but she wasn't sure how. Trevor had simply plugged his free nostril and calmly snorted his bean out, which appeared to be a sickly green color. Lucky for him, James caught wind of Trevor's idea and soon had safely removed his own blockage, a translucent blue-green one with white dots floating in it.

"Merlin he's an idiot," piped up Albus's blonde haired companion as they continued to watch the 15-year-old Weasley wriggle in pain. Someone clearly needed to step and be merciful, but it was too amusing to stop. "Oi Freddy hold still," he said finally and as Fred paused momentarily, he waved his wand in a graceful arc and summoned the bean from up his fellow Beater's nose so that it hovered in mid-air in front of him.

"Thanks Dilly," said Fred happily and he walked around the guilty yellow pellet to clap his teammate on the shoulder.

"Ew Freddy, it has your bogies on it you have to grab it now because no one else will," said Keira, staring at the bean as it vibrated in the air. Fred Weasley made a face at this idea and so instead of plucking the bean from the sky, he pulled out his wand and made it vanish. After that, he sat down heavily on the floor beneath Jonah and gave him a congratulatory pat on the knee. One upping a kid who dedicated his life to performing impossible antics was indeed worthy of some serious respect. Dillon Carnaby, his rescuer, joined him on the floor as there were no seats left for the newly arrived fourth years.

"Here Jo-nah take it back," said Trevor sourly and he hurled his bean back across the compartment in his friend's general direction "It matches your eyes, which after all is pretty rare." Wood was thankfully not a Chaser, as he had horrible aim, proven as the bean bounced off the ceiling above the bench Jonah was sitting on, slid harmlessly down against the wall and disappeared out of sight.

Henley clucked disdainfully at the poor throw and said, "I think these fine blokes had the right idea. We'd better change into our robes soon as well." Suddenly they all noticed how it was rapidly getting darker outside as night really began to fall, canceling out the semi-darkness that had been prevalent all day long.

"We'll go to the loo and change while you all talk Quidditch," suggested Heather indicating that she, Rigel and Jonah would give them some space. After the trio of non-players gathered up their uniforms and left Albus and the remaining fourth year present, Tristan Galloway occupied their seats. Tristan had short, dark hair like James and Al and his eyes were a sort of golden amber color that proved fascinating to the ladies. It was interesting to see that the ones with the truly unusual eyes (like Jonah, Tristan and Rigel) were most definitely wizards from either half-blood or pureblood families. Blue eyes, brown eyes, grey eyes, green eyes and hazel eyes were all relatively normal to Muggles and they cropped up in varying states of regularity. But some colors were only passed down in the wizarding world and they most likely came from marrying elves, giants, trolls and the like somewhere in the previous generations. There was even a girl with dark, navy eyes at Hogwarts these days; she was a 6th year Ravenclaw this year. Although, her eyes were just one of the reasons that guys threw themselves at her. James had always had a hunch that Jonah was remotely descended from elves, kind of like tiny Headmaster Flitwick most certainly was as well. 

"No matter when we get stop in here something interesting is always going on. That's what I said to Al before and he thought I was exaggerating," observed Tristan. He stretched out over half the seat before adding in satisfaction "Now he owes me 6 Sickles."

The emerald eyed Potter appeared to take it well but said teasingly "Fine be that guy Trist. You can have your winnings later in the dorm, unless you want to go double or nothing on a round of wizard chess?" Galloway pretended to consider this alternative, before fervently shaking his head no at his best mate. Albus Severus Potter had received many chess lessons from his Uncle Ron and Tristan had already heard all about the great Transfigured Chess Match that had once occurred in the bowels of Hogwarts.

"So James, or should I say Captain Potter, it looks like we have about 15 minutes before Hogsmeade Station and four of us still need to hustle into robes, so start talking," said Keira pushily. As the only girl on the team she often tended to act forcefully in order to get through to her male teammates.

"Alright," James said cheerfully and then he purposefully paused (he was used to her bossiness but it didn't really intimidate him) before adding "As you know from our summer sessions I will be your Captain (everyone shared a chuckle at this obviousness). We were all around last season when Gareth Teague took some nasty whacks against Slytherin and then decided, what with his N.E.W.T's coming up, he simply couldn't take it anymore," The eldest Potter stopped and made a face. He had liked Gareth, the friendly Beater had been a great guy, but they had all recognized his lack of true Quidditch obsession immediately. James was damn sure that he would never back out on Quidditch, not if he had N.E.W.T's, or cracked open his skull, or met a girl or whatever. "Anyway," he continued "Dillon stepped in and took his place and we got even better. Professor Longbottom didn't assign us a new official Captain after Gareth left, but I guess now with him having graduated somebody needed to fill the job."

They all nodded in understanding and Dilly joked "I guess he did alright on those N.E.W.T's then," in a low voice.

The whole team snickered awhile before they allowed James to continue. "I think we should start training fairly soon, but we will have to have a trial first. Now I understand at this moment all the positions are full! But in the interest of fairness we have to give our fellow housemates their shot. It is safe to say however, to break up a reigning Quidditch Cup winning team such as this they will have to pull out a trial worthy of the English National squad more or less," he finished. 

"What about Lily? You'll have to do some serious explaining" mentioned Fred. He was uncomfortably just realizing that this meant his young cousin was on the outs of her own brother's team.

"She'll have to wait Freddy," James barked at his cousin stonily and he looked at Albus for support.

"Wait 3 years?" piped up Fred incredulously, he was sure James was a dead man.

"Then, unless you have another idea, give her your spot," interrupted Albus, unwilling to have this argument right now.

"She doesn't play Beater. Give her yours," the stubborn Weasley retorted obstinately and they turned to face each other. Albus raised an eyebrow at his older cousin and waited for him to take it back. Because Fred was family he'd give him two whole minutes before he hexed him for being stupid. "No… I don't know… you're a better Seeker Al. Sorry, it just seems all wrong that she doesn't get a spot. She and my sister have been waiting for this practically their whole lives James," replied Freddy almost immediately.

That reminded James of Roxanne Weasley, the third member of the Weasley/Potter Gryffindor trio of second years. Not as obsessed as Lily, not as desperately touted as Hugo, but competent none the less. She was a Chaser too, like her dear old mum (his Aunt Angelina) and he found it strange how that worked out. He and Lily were Chasers like their mother Ginny and Al was a Seeker like Harry. Fred was a Beater like his father Uncle George and Trevor and his brother were both Keepers like their old man. Tristan had even said once that his parents had both been Chasers, his mum for Hufflepuff and his pops for Gryffindor. "Merlin Freddy I know!" James answered exasperated "If they kill me, they can fight over my spot and my badge after doing a victory dance on my corpse. What do you want me to do, mess with the best chemistry Gryffindor's had in over a decade, since our parents mind you, or do you want me to reinvent Quidditch to include 5 Chasers and 2 Keepers?" He let out a frustrated sigh. 

Trevor, Keira, Tristan and Dillon merely sat back and watched the family crisis unfold. They didn't trust themselves to speak because, quite frankly, they all counted themselves fortunate to be on the team in place of some available Potter/Weasley in the first place. They had all been over to the Potter's before, either as James or Albus's guests, and they had seen Lily play…and play well at that.

"2 Keepers?" questioned Fred confused "Aw bloody hell that's right Hugo," he realized after a few moments. "Well that's alright Trevor's a better Keeper than Hugo," he continued and he winked at Wood. Trevor smiled and saluted cheekily, out of the four non Potter/Weasley's present he felt the most comfortable, knowing he was pretty much safe. Dillon too, technically had nothing to worry about, although he was the newest member of the current team so the idea of a trial sort of scared him despite the lack of Potter/Weasley's in his way.

"Nice Fred," said Al sarcastically, noting sadly that yet again someone had forgotten about old cousin Hugo.

"Well it's true," persisted Freddy "Love the awkward little bugger to death, but he should stick to wizard's chess instead of trying to be like a double threat or something like Uncle Ron."

"I can see the lights of Hogsmeade in the distance now Captain and we might be slowing down a bit," interrupted Keira helpfully from beside the window.

"Bugger," said James as he now had no choice but to wrap the discussion up "Look everyone just be ready for a trial… even if it's mostly for show. I'll deal with Lily. That's why we have a B team after all." They all appeared mostly satisfied with the current state of team affairs at this point, given the one clearly impassable issue, so Albus, Dillon and Tristan then left while assuring their fellow housemates that they would see them at the feast. 

On their way out, the boys ran into the returning fifth years who were now fully dressed in their Gryffindor best. James, Trevor and Freddy, realizing their lack of available time, promptly started to strip down to their boxers, set to dress on-the-fly in the compartment. Keira Morley simply huffed at them and hurriedly dashed to the loo, with her robes slung over her shoulder. Heather and Rigel did their best not to stare at the three toned (in Freddy's case this was a loose interpretation) Quidditch players shamelessly unclothed in their presence but there wasn't much else to look at. Trevor gazed at his girlfriend the whole time he dressed with a playful glint in his grey eyes and it seemed that he purposefully remained scantily clad in only his broomstick patterned boxers as long as possible. Freddy was the first one into his grey slacks and white button down shirt, but his boxers (white with rubber chickens on them) rode messily up over his pant line and he was having he usual trouble knotting his red and gold striped Gryffindor tie. James meanwhile, spent two whole minutes rooting around in his trunk for his knit vest before deciding to simply go without. After this Trevor and Freddy both decided against vests as well, citing that they were stuffy and tight and came off as pompous. 

The five minute announcement came soon after and Keira returned wearing the same attire, except for a pleated grey skirt instead of trousers and knee high socks. All the students wore trainers these days, because no one stood for dress shoes any more after many complaints about how hard the stone castle floors were on their feet. James made sure to switch his trainers from green to red in order to match his uniform, which was something that Keira considered terribly anal and she started teasing him about it yet again. At the last minute, the trio stuffed all their discarded clothes and the remaining sweets into their trunks, James taking special care to make sure his jacket made it into his, and locked them. Still pulling on their black button up robes with the Gryffindor house crest and holding their cloaks they trailed their friends out of the compartment and off the train. They were presentable, but certainly not impeccably dressed, as James's tie was purposefully loose and the top two buttons of Fred's robes were broken off and the holes they went in were frayed. James left Aether to be brought up to the castle along with their trunks but Whizbang accompanied them, riding on Freddy's shoulder as usual. 

It had stopped raining for the time being but the Scottish night air was still brisk and the group of friends quickly sought out a carriage. James Potter could not see thestrals; unlike his parents he had not witnessed death. Of the group Trevor and Heather could though, they had both lost one of their grandparents firsthand. Under old circumstances, they would have had to ride in two carriages, but Hagrid had recently expanded the seats in the thestral-drawn cars to seat groups of about eight. In the carriage, James finally started to fret over how to pin on his new badges. Were both on one side too much, especially with the crest already on the robe? Did one on each side look too symmetrical? Was it mandatory that he wear both at once or could he switch on and off? What if he put one near the hip like they did on those strange Muggle cop dramas? Finally, he settled on putting them side by side below the Gryffindor crest so that they sort of formed a triangle and his friends all told him they looked perfectly fine. Quite frankly, none of them really cared how the badges looked now because they all knew that James wasn't going to be diligent about keeping them positioned just so day in and day out anyway. 

Eventually the carriage had trundled all the way the up the drive and through the wrought iron castle gates to the front door. Stepping out of the carriage the hazel-eyed James felt the familiar warmth that bubbled up within him when he knew he was home. The majestic castle was in his home in distinctly different way than the Potter mansion because while there he of course felt at home too it was strongly associated with feelings of family. Here at Hogwarts, he felt at home because it was where he experienced boundless freedom, here that small, but ever present, reminder that he was Harry Potter's son became even smaller. He was mostly just another young wizard within these walls, a wizard that could be himself and who could blaze his own future. James and his friends quickly jogged up the wide stone steps, away from the raw night and into the Entrance Hall. After saying a brief hello to some of their classmates, the group made their way into the Great Hall and took up their favorite seats near the middle of the Gryffindor table, ready for a feast.


	3. Feasting and First Years

Chapter 3: Feasting and First Years

Author's Note: First off, I did not create Harry Potter and his world. Also, this chapter is shorter and probably ends in a kind of weird spot. But that's because I cleaved my original chapter basically in half. Honestly I got bogged down editing and also realized (you've been warned) that this part is sometimes slow. I just had to include a somewhat detailed sorting though, my obsession with naming new characters and adding details dictated as much. So please read, review, enjoy or any combination thereof. And it will get a bit more action-oriented soon!

James watched, along with every other Hogwarts student present, as the first years filed onto a small dais in the middle of the hall, in front of the Staff Table. Catching a glimpse of a wet patch on the back of one of the young boys robes James couldn't help but wonder if he had peed in his pants or if he had sat in a wet boat for the journey across the lake. Either way, the kid looked terrified of a hat on a stool just like all his fellow 11-year-olds, none of which appeared to have a wet backside as well. One small blonde girl however seemed to have already lost her hat and was compulsively smoothing her hair self-consciously as a result. James exchanged an amused smirk with Freddy over the fact that the first years were again wearing hats, because soon enough they would realize what a nuisance they really were. They were always falling off, blowing away outside on the grounds, getting hit with misplaced spells so that they had burn marks in them or simply getting lost. Pointed witch's hats were one of the biggest wastes of time, Galleons and material he had ever seen.

Professor Longbottom had placed the stool and the venerable hat in the center of the dais and was preparing to soon read off the moderately long scroll in his hand. As the hat began to sing its usual clever song James was struck by a wistful feeling, there were no more Potter/Weasley's to sort, now that Lily, Hugo and Roxanne were second years. Hugo was his very youngest cousin, at several months younger than both Roxy and Lily. Something inside him was a bit disappointed by this because while he had such a big family already, it could have been even bigger. His father, through tragic circumstances, didn't have any siblings and his Uncle Charlie was married to his work on dragons and therefore had no family of his own. James was moderately consoled however after imagining the level of sheer havoc that would have rained down on Gryffindor house at the mere presence of even more Potter/Weasley's. Perhaps it was high time (sad as it was to admit) that the family gave this generation of Hogwarts teachers a breather by not introducing any new blood.

And so this year's Sorting Ceremony began with a girl named as Aiton, Scarlett (who eventually became a Ravenclaw). During the Sorting James and his friends routinely liked to pay attention to the first years as they took their turn and sometimes they even made random comments amongst themselves. Astor, Magnus quickly became the first new Slytherin and Freddy voiced the opinion that Magnus was one of the most pretentious names he'd ever heard. The Gryffindors were then cheered when Barclay, Thomas joined their ranks. James had met young Thomas before, as his older sister Piper was a friend of Al's and his older brother Ethan hung with Lily. He thought that the tiny brown-haired Thomas was a great kid, very exuberant and very funny and he gave the lad the thumbs up as he walked past to receive congratulations from his siblings. Two people after the youngest Barclay (a pair of female Hufflepuffs) he got his first dorm mates. They were a set of dark-eyed twins named Almanzo and Evrard Cochrane and they looked positively identical. Because he was staring avidly at the duo until they reached the Gryffindor table (as to try and discover a noticeable physical difference between them) James almost missed the name of the next one sorted, a skinny lad introduced as Davies, Castor.

While young Castor sat on the stool beneath the hat, James Potter's eyes raked over the crowd of Ravenclaws sitting at the table on their immediate left. Finally, with Trevor's help, he located the one person in the world whom he hadn't really expected to want to see at the moment. And yet, he couldn't help but stare interestedly at the witch as her important family moment unfolded. Antila was gazing up at the dais with an understandable interest and so James divided his attention between the two siblings. He noticed even from afar that there was a clear family resemblance present in the shape of their noses and in the chestnut color of their hair. The hat was taking forever with Castor and James watched as Antila began to become uneasy and start to fidget with her Head Girl's badge, doing anything possible not to watch her brother be sorted any longer. Even the students who found the sorting tiresome and who were attempting to carry on whispered conversations with their friends noticed the delay. Finally, the hat shouted Ravenclaw and Castor Davies (with a small frown) walked steadily towards the appropriate table. He appeared too troubled by the hat's decision to even be self-conscious that everyone was staring at him. Immediately, his older sister beckoned forcefully at him with her finger and he reluctantly went to her side. As the sorting continued, the two Davies' began whispering back and forth and James had a hunch that the she was demanding to know what the hat had said. Castor however quickly became annoyed, brushed her off and went to sit with a lad by the name of Rory Chickering, the first Ravenclaw boy sorted this evening. The eldest Potter watched from afar delighted as Antila thus began sporting an ugly look on her face, (similar to the one she had adopted with him on the train) ultimately making Castor his new favorite person.

The Sorting dredged on for a few more names before Henley, Pascal approached the stool with an uncharacteristically confident gleam for a first year in his olive green eyes. This was Jonah's baby brother and James had very much forgotten it was now his time to attend Hogwarts. The older Henley sibling had mentioned nothing on the train and James inwardly wondered where Pascal had sat for the ride over from London. "Ooohhh Jo-nah! You didn't remind us Cal was starting this term," cooed Rigel and she reached over and swatted him on the arm.

Jonah shrugged unapologetically. "It didn't really come up," he remarked and he watched as his kid brother smiled casually under the Sorting Hat's scrutiny. The bookworm was without his usual reading material for meal times, as James supposed the sorting of one's own family member and a feast were his only exceptions to the norm. "Boy's a freak," Jonah murmured almost admiringly to the group, "He is so confident it'll be Ravenclaw or Gryffindor that he isn't even a bit afraid." The group of 5th years themselves waited with baited breath, but they need not have worried, half a minute later Pascal jogged happily up the aisle to the Gryffindor table and high-fived with the other new boys. He then came sauntering over to shake hands with his older brother and his friends.

It was alarming to realize how outgoing Pascal was compared to his sibling; Jonah was always much more serious and subtle. "Congrats Cal," exulted Freddy and he shook the boy's hand jubilantly, thinking automatically that he would be an ideal ally to help prank Jonah this term.

Pascal smiled widely, "Thank you Freddy, thanks everyone. I told you I'd get in here Jo-nah," he teased the older boy and Jonah hemmed to himself. "By the way Heath, I met your sister and I think we'll get along quite well, after she gets into Gryffindor that is," the lad predicted.

Heather smiled and agreed "Yes, I'm sure you will be great friends. Did you meet her on the train? Was she nervous? I had strict instructions from her to leave her alone so she could find someone to bond with." The group knew this sounded like Fiona; the eleven-year-old was into doing things her own way as much as possible. 

The exuberant Henley nodded, "Yes we were serendipitously in the same compartment and both vaguely recognized each other from hanging around you sorry lot. So we got to talking and we have concluded that we are much more fun than our too nice older siblings. Oh, and you needn't worry, she wasn't terribly nervous. Definitely my kind of girl," he said proudly.

Heather and Jonah exchanged an affronted look, as if under the opinion that it was impossible to ever be too nice. James and Trevor both sniggered aloud as they were yet again reminded of how rewarding it was to listen to Cal get his brother's goat. "Yes, well ok, well done Pas. It certainly seems like you've got some new friends. Go enjoy the feast over there with them then, but just be sure and write mum and dad when you get upstairs later," advised Jonah and he actually looked pretty happy despite having just been insulted. The relief of having a younger sibling in the same house as you was something James understood as well. It was something you could share with them forever.

"Oh don't get all 'big brother' on me Jo-nah I'll handle it," Pascal replied, amusedly rolling his eyes, "Well it seems like my brother is sending me off…so later then! By the way, I can't wait for the food. Do they usually serve cherry pie? That's my favorite dessert. Oh! And also by the way, you all see that kid over there?" He pointed covertly at a tall blonde boy near one end of the dais. "That fellow's name is Cael Shinnock. He's a real sport. A bit quiet maybe and, as he's admitted an American to boot, but a real sport none the less. Look for him to go Gryffindor and complete our boys dorm," Pascal prophesied and then he walked away with a cheerful wink.

Talking to Pascal had taken up the sorting of two girls who had walked off as a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin respectively. James and his friends returned their attention back to the ceremony in time to see a tall girl with straight black hair that Professor Longbottom had named as Meath, Olivia getting her brain picked. She waited patiently, listening to the old hat, before it yelled Gryffindor and made her the first new female in the house of lions. Calmly, Olivia stood up with a placid grin and handed off the hat to the next girl, a brunette named Munroe, Teagan, who appeared to be an acquaintance. Teagan made it back-to-back for Gryffindor and airily floated over to join Olivia at the table. Three people later, a boy named Quark, Aiden became a Ravenclaw and he heard quite a few sniggers (several of which came from Fred) over his odd last name but seemed to take it in stride. Next was Fiona Ramsden, and as she took her place on the stool Heather crossed all her fingers and firmly shut her eyes muttering "Please Merlin, please be Gryffindor." James placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and soon enough, the group was 2 for 2 on sibling sortings. He knew that Heather was majorly relieved. Her parents and gotten enough of a shock sending their oldest child off to a magical school in the middle of nowhere and now they were sending the other daughter off too. As Heather explained it, her mum and dad had always fretted over Fiona more. She was a spontaneous, willful child that had been kicked out of three primary schools over the years, all for what had probably been acts of accidental magic, but even without them she'd never exactly been an innocent little princess.

Heather received a few congratulatory pats and high fives and Fiona waved briefly at her sister before sliding onto the bench beside Pascal Henley. Soon after Fiona, the name Shinnock, Caelum was yelled and Pascal's new chum awkwardly straddled the low sitting stool. His long, gangly legs were unusual for 11 years old and he practically had to bend his knees up to his chin to fit properly. James and seemingly everyone else in the Hall alertly became interested in where this young sapling would end up, as he had the obvious physical makings of a future Quidditch Keeper. The curious Potter would have also sworn he could almost hear the amusement of the Sorting Hat as wriggled atop the awkward youth's head. Cael took only a matter of seconds to sort however, and as the hat finally settled…he became a Gryffindor, freeing himself from the cramped stool and sending him over to the far left of the Hall.

With the Ceremony now winding down there were only seven students left on the dais, including the potential pants-wetter. James soon discovered his name was Wainwright, Phillip and watched the shaking boy become a Hufflepuff. After him, the Sorting concluded with one more Gryffindor girl (a Warwick, Zora) and Slytherin boy by the name of Zabini, Procyon. James eyed up the Slytherin table during that final sorting, looking for the young Blaise Zabini junior and his best pal Scorpius Malfoy. He found them in time to witness Procyon become a Slytherin as well, so capping off, as far as he could tell, a great day for sibling sortings. Incidentally, the eldest Potter didn't really give Scorpius Malfoy much thought normally but as he watched him clap young Procyon on the back, he tried to see why Al was fond of him. He looked nice enough, so James supposed it didn't really matter that he couldn't see the real draw in having a Slytherin pal himself. Scorp was just Albus's school friend that he played chess or did homework with sometimes. James never actually expected Scorpius Malfoy to come over the Potter Mansion during the summer holidays or to drop by for Christmas tea and he didn't think Al really expected it either.

The very thought of Scorpius truly bonding with Albus, and Rose in particular, would probably drive his Uncle Ron a bit crazy, let alone the fact that James was pretty sure the young Slytherin ogled Rose every chance he got. He was confident that it was a nightmare waiting to happen, that is, _if_ Rose ever wised up to the Slytherin's feelings and also became interested. James considered how he would feel about his bookish cousin dating the bleach blonde pure-blood. He supposed he could be a bit overprotective of his female cousins and his sister at times given, for starters, the incident with Dominique on his first ever journey on the Hogwarts Express. But mostly he tended to wait until they "needed" his help. He came to the conclusion that, if Rose needed defending it would be Albus and perhaps Hugo's jurisdiction to handle it as her best friend and her younger brother. Besides, Rose had a reputation in the family for being the dumper and not the dumped party, which she had picked up from Dom. Yea, thought James confidently, Rose could definitely handle her own relationships.

Headmaster Flitwick had risen to say a few words, but James didn't really hear them because he was still thinking about a possible Rose and Scorpius relationship. Before he knew it the food had thankfully appeared and he, Trevor and Freddy set about loading their golden plates several layers high, the sweets they had eaten earlier were apparently only a memory. Chicken legs, steak and kidney pie, bangers and mash, roast beef with gravy, corn, Shepherd's pie, spiral ham, crescent biscuits with butter and much more crowded James's and the other guys plates over the course of the meal. Ginny Potter always said that he, Trev and Freddy ate like garbage disposals just like his Uncle Ron and that when James's friends came over the house during the summer, it was all she could manage to keep them fed. All three girls were clucking at them in disgust and Jonah simply looked dumbfounded, as usual commenting that he couldn't believe he shared a room with such carnivorous jungle animals. Keira was working her way through a modest portion of the roast beef with brown gravy and had coupled it with the sensible sides of garlic mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus stalks. Unlike her male Gryffindor teammates, she preferred a dinner that made sense. She thought about this with an air of superiority as she watched Fred mix cranberries into his sweet potatoes. Rigel nibbled at a serving of steak and kidney pie and a buttered roll and every one of her friends knew that it would last her awhile, as she typically ate uber-slowly.

Heather was having chicken, although it lay largely untouched because she kept sneaking glances down the table at her sister, who was still sitting with the other first years. "Heath, the runts are fine," mumbled Trevor his mouthful, causing a bite of sausage to fall out of his mouth and onto the table. He quickly stabbed at it with his fork and put it back in before he resumed power eating what was on his plate. 

The muggleborn scowled at him but made another attempt to focus on her food before saying, "Wouldn't it be great Jonah? If my sister and your brother could really hit it off? At least then my mother won't pester me with quite so many letters about how her baby girl is adjusting. I could really do without those letters."

Jonah's pale green eyes zeroed in on Pascal and Fiona as they sat next to Cael Shinnock and across from Olivia, Teagan and the twins. Tommy Barclay and Zora Warwick were also nearby and Jonah found it amusing how they were all clustered together. Some of them would look around the hall between bites of food in total awe of their surroundings. But at least they were talking to each other as well, noticeably laughing and smiling here and there. "Trust me Heather, Fiona is definitely walking away from this feast with some friends," he said knowingly. For one, Pascal wasn't the type to change his mind about things like that.

Freddy, who had spent the whole meal so far non-verbal, actually paused his eating to say, "Two of a kind Ram. She and Cal look like two of a kind. They're probably plotting world domination as we speak." After deciding they were right, Heather reached for her fork and began eating with gusto.

Soon enough, the desserts replaced the main courses and the Gryffindor 5th years did not slow down much. The food at Hogwarts was good on a daily basis, but the opening feast was always a cut above and they intended to get in (even just a bit of) all their favorites. Pascal Henley could soon be seen further down the table serving onto his plate two large pieces of cherry pie and adding to it some broken up bits of Chocolate Frog. James immediately got in on the act by helping himself to a big hunk of chocolate gateau and block of rocky road ice cream. He then smothered it with whipped cream, nuts, coconut shavings and a few cherries before digging in. Freddy also made an extreme sundae, but instead he used double chocolate chip ice cream and instead of cake, brownies. Trevor wolfed down three of his favorite fudgy walnut brownies before he settling into a more human pace, also eating two pieces of blueberry pie, one piece of apple and a couple of mini chocolate éclairs. Heather and Keira both had a couple of treacle tarts and Rigel decided on a strawberry trifle. James also enjoyed treacle tart, because his mother made it all the time in order to make his father happy. He usually bypassed the Hogwarts version on feast days though, because he hated to compare it to his mum's. Jonah, citing his relentless sweet tooth, ate more dessert than he'd had dinner, dividing his plate between an extra sweet raspberry and peach pie topped with a squirt of whipped cream and half the portion of chocolate gateau James had left nearby.

A happy silence reigned over this section of the feast, until Trevor said (this time with a mouth clear of potential debris), "You two super-prefects haven't even told us the password to get into the common room yet you know." The annoying Keeper grinned into his pie as everyone noted that he did have point. 

"Merlin, you're such a ball-buster Wood! Give us a break," James growled at his mate and then, basically proving Trevor's point about his slacking, looked across at Heather and frowned as he tried to remember what he'd read in his letter months ago.

"Its murco rubius" supplied Heather instantly and James snapped his fingers and nodded in agreement. Why hadn't he remembered that? Probably you because you don't know what it means, he mused. 

"Oh, ruby sword is it?" asked Albus (citing the Latin to English translation) as he came striding over with Rose. They squeezed onto the bench on either side of James and greeted everyone cheerfully. 

"No, its murco rubius you dolt!" chided James, indignant that Al apparently knew more Latin than he did, "Try ruby sword with the Fat Lady and she'll keep you out in the corridor all night." The younger Potter rolled his eyes and made a face, indicating he did not find his brother amusing. James and everyone else knew full well he was only translating it for fun.

"You're a beast Fred," interjected Rose, promptly disgusted as she almost trailed her sleeve into her cousin's pile of cream puffs, they were stacked in a pyramid formation next to his plate. She did steal one from him however, and when he went to protest, she quelled him with a look of steely determination. Upon seeing that his brother wisely had a few of his favorite cookies wrapped up in a napkin (probably for a pre-breakfast snack), James mimicked him by grabbing two brownies, an éclair and a few oatmeal raisin of his own. Suddenly he looked like a genius, as the food disappeared and Freddy and Trevor got caught with empty forks half-way to their mouths. The stocky Weasley quickly got over the shocking disappearance of his apple cobbler ala mode however, as he grabbed at his pile of cream puffs in relief. Because they were on the table instead of his plate, the delectable pastries had remained behind. "Gross," Rose reiterated as her eyebrows threatened to disappear into the enchanted ceiling.

"Unbelievable James," said Albus taking note of what his brother had managed to grab for later, "Mum is spot on about you and food. I mean don't tell me you could possibly still be hungry after all that…" Before the older Potter could manage a retort, Headmaster Flitwick stood for some closings remarks. A few announcements about Quidditch sign-ups (which made James feel a bit queasy), a quick reminder of the ever-present ban on Weasley products (which always fell on deaf ears) and a notice on the importance of not dueling in the halls between classes, and they were dismissed to their dormitories.

"C'mon James, I suppose we have to be good prefects now and help out the first years," sighed Heather, dutifully rising from the bench.

"Yea go be good prefects…and don't forget the password," teased Trevor and he swiped one of his best mate's cookies and munched it happily. James shot him a stony look.

"Well good night James. Good night all," said Albus also rising, "Say James, maybe when you take that there napkin full of snacks with you, the first years will get the impression that you're a starved, homeless guy who hasn't eaten in three days. Which probably won't help your prefect cred," he added as a last jest.

"Tut Albus Severus that's not nice!" scolded Rose as she made to leave with him, "Excuse him James, as he seems to have forgotten that he's also in possession of some extra cookies. You know Albie… the house elves might be coaxed into bringing you a glass of milk for those in the tower, but I don't think they'll tuck you in and read you a bedtime story as well." Everyone laughed as Albus adopted a wounded look at the clever Weasley's quick jab, but then he gamely recovered with a pained smile. The two cousins then left to catch up with their friends, still bickering a bit (Al trying to defend his sweets hoarding as 'wasting not') , after thanking them once more for revealing that all important password. Heather and James (who indignantly left the extra desserts behind with Fred), reluctantly dashed off to help the first years find Gryffindor Tower while the others got to make their way up to the seventh floor at a more leisurely pace.

As it turned out their initial prefect duties didn't prove to be too taxing that evening, despite snagging the group that included all of the young Gryffindor first years because they had wished to remain together. Apparently some serious bonding _had indeed_ occurred over the space of the evening's festivities. The other Gryffindor prefects had thus, either given up on their duty or had gone off to help out some stragglers from the other houses after Thomas Barclay, Fiona Ramsden and Pascal Henley had insisted James and Heather be the ones to guide them up to Gryffindor Tower. Because all three of these 11-year-olds knew both James and Heather, they were quite cooperative and had quickly convinced their fellow new Gryffindors to also be cool. The young group was clearly excited, but they tried to keep their questions in check, for the most part, as to not be an annoyance.

"Do the staircases really move? Teagan Munroe finally asked a bit incredulously as they plodded along. James nodded kindly in reply and, on a whim, decided to teach them a shortcut through a large silk tapestry because he was already inexplicably fond of this little group (and not just because of his friends' younger siblings being in it).

"But how do they expect us to keep all the changes in mind and not be late for our lessons?" interjected one of the Cochrane twins, a bit annoyed.

"Well the professors don't really care," began James frankly, "They sort of expect you to get used to it," and he led them through an invisible wall shortcut on the 4th floor.

"Well? So, do you really get used to it?" prompted the other twin.

"Believe it or not you do," reassured Heather as she directed them past a corridor crowded with gothic-looking portraits.

"Now," said James as he friendlily draped an arm across both the twin boys shoulders, "You're going to have to be good chaps and tell me how to tell you two apart!" They looked at each other and smiled knowingly.

"Well you see," explained the one named Almanzo, "I've got some freckles here on my temple that look sort of like a crescent moon and Ev doesn't," He gestured vaguely in the area of his head and James squinted in the flickering torchlight, gamely trying to make out the markings the boy was referring to. He pretty much failed. "But you can't really see them from far off, so that's no good right?" the first year continued, pretty much reading James's mind. The older boy mused to himself that up close it was so easy either.

"Right," took over Evrard enthusiastically, "So a better judge is, that my wand arm is my left and Manzo's is his right. But that still isn't a fool proof sign. And so… if that fails, he'll be wearing glasses sometimes… and also our parents say my ears are bigger and pointier," he offered helpfully. James attempted to store in this information as the pale duo with the deep coal colored eyes and hair (even darker than his own) looked at him expectantly.

"I think I can work with that. Otherwise, we're going to name tags," the prefect Potter joked and he next steered the group up a trick staircase that had a built in jelly legs jinx in the fifth step. It was worth the risk though, as it left them two long corridors from the entrance to Gryffindor Tower and thus James was confident they would beat everyone else to it.

"Cael already has it down! Telling them apart I mean. Don't you Cael?" piped up Pascal from the back of the pack, where he was strolling leisurely along and absorbing every nook and cranny of the castle that they passed.

"Do you?" Olivia Meath asked and she looked interestedly at the lanky boy. As he nodded and reddened a little under her gaze and it led James to believe that; he either found her to be attractive, that he was a bit shy, or perhaps a bit of both.

"Go on then prove it," said Fiona Ramsden encouragingly, "You close your eyes and we'll switch them around a bit. Then you have to open your eyes, point to each one and say his name." Heather stopped walking and looked disbelievingly at her younger sister for daring to put the kid on the spot like this, she had just met him and goading him into this would come off as really mean if he screwed up.

"Alright," Caelum responded quietly, and with a small shrug he shut his eyes firmly so that they could mix up the two Cochranes.

James (who was taking their strange, sudden pit-stop in stride) stood with Cael, their backs facing the group as an extra way to avoid cheating, while Heather switched the two boys back and forth a couple of times. When everyone had decided that it was safe for him to look again, the unassuming 11-year-old opened his eyes, turned around and carefully scrutinized the duo from several feet away. The young American's concentration was deep, despite the surface triviality of the dare, and his tiny brown eyes darted over each of them as they stood side by side sporting near-matching smiles. Heather exchanged an amused glance with James during this brief interlude and she was pretty sure he had his own guess, but knew that he wasn't going to say anything because it would detract from the kid's moment. Finally young Mr. Shinnock extended one of his long tanned arms and pointed to each twin and said his name. And he was indeed right, much to the surprise of some of the group.

"He cheated," said Teagan pessimistically, although she was hard pressed to figure out how. 

"He didn't," insisted Zora Warwick quietly, speaking for the first time because she noticed Cael start blushing uncontrollably.

"Nice eye mate," piped up Tommy cheerfully and he seemed duly impressed.

"I told you he had it down," said Pascal proudly and the twins grinned at him happily. James figured they were pleased because it was high time someone could manage to keep them straight right off the bat.

"You really didn't peek?" Olivia prompted him, and he shook his head no. "Well then I think that's neat," she continued, "It's going to take me ages," and she smiled at him sincerely.

James was suddenly reminded of why first years were a chore. They all had to get their two Knuts in over this.

"There was no cheating I watched him like a hawk the whole time," the older boy assured them cheerfully and he gestured the group further down the candle lit corridor. They were losing all the time advantage his shortcuts had amassed, not that it mater or anything…really.

"I guess not," Teagan considered, shooting an apologetic look toward Cael. Heather led the way and as they reached the end of the corridor, she made a quick right and ushered the new students into one last hallway.

"Home sweet home kiddies," James said as they approached a portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress.

"But where's the entrance?" asked Zora confused and she peered at the wall in front of them searching for a door. In her humble opinion, James Potter seemed a bit goofy; maybe he had gotten them lost on purpose for a lark.

"Where indeed?" echoed James, actually enjoying this experience certainly more than he'd thought he would. Apparently, introducing young Gryffindors to some of the secrets of Hogwarts felt strangely rewarding. He quirked an eyebrow at the youngsters and said aloud, "Murco rubius," while Heather rolled her eyes at him.

"Always so dramatic dear," responded the Fat Lady, causing the first years to gape and jump in surprise, before the portrait swung away from the wall to reveal a round door. The two prefects allowed the curious first years to lead the way through it, so that their first look at the common room was kind of unimpeded. As James climbed through last, he heard the rumble of students descending upon the corridor in the distance and he smirked with satisfaction, the Marauders would have been proud of his knowledge of the castle. 

The mischievous Potter adored the old map that had been brought to him courtesy of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. It was, to him, an ingenious legacy to have left behind for generations of curious, troublesome youth to discover. He had even found, in their honor, his own secret passages that the four friends had never discovered for themselves…or perhaps never could have. The castle had sustained quite a bit of damage during the battle that had ended the Second Wizarding War and during the repairs, someone had apparently given Hogwarts a few new secrets for the fun of the youth to come. Of course this was just a hunch of his, based on the fact that some of _his_ secret passages seemed newer and less… well… dangerous looking.

It saddened him sometimes though when he remembered that the Marauders were all dead, because in his mind, and through the map, they seemed so alive. Harry had told him the tragic story of their demise just this past summer, after many times putting it off with the excuse that he and Al weren't quite old enough to hear it. Quite frankly, it had crushed James a bit to discover that his beloved quartet of rascals had been broken and betrayed by one of their own. Albus had also been grieved by their father's recounting of history (it involved their grandparents deaths after all), but because he wasn't as attached to the lifestyle of pranking and exploring as James was he had been less scarred by the knowledge. He hadn't really put the Marauders on the same pedestal his older brother had. James's namesakes and Teddy's father Remus had all died brave and true, and he was proud to know this, but it couldn't manage to completely erase Peter's crimes from his thoughts. He could never imagine why any man, a Gryffindor especially, would sell his friends out to their deaths. In his eyes Freddy, Trevor, Jonah and himself were the "new" Marauders and he knew that he could never do anything less than have the backs of those guys until the day he died.

During one particular boys-only campout on the Potter property this past summer the quartet had discussed the Marauder's at length, after James had informed them of Harry's tale. Trevor and Freddy had been properly appalled to discover the whole story, whereas Jonah's pessimistic side had immediately kicked in to the effect that he had claimed that he actually wasn't a bit surprised to hear it. He had then, to justify himself, cited how war always turned people's relationships into a something they could have never expected in normal times. The others supposed this was true; Jonah was after all the one who actually paid attention in History of Magic class. He had also persisted to mention, that so flawed was human nature, that perhaps the Marauder's hadn't been as perfect a group as they'd thought they were in all those years leading up to the tragedy of the Potters. This statement had certainly come off as less of a stretch, for the boys had all recognized that Wormtail came off as a bit of a useless, needy duffer. Their proof came from both interactions with the map's built-in writings and from watching old Pensieve compatible memories Harry had found of Remus Lupin's in his home after his death. The former 'Chosen One' had quietly recovered them for Teddy, so that young orphan might be able to someday see his father at some of his happiest moments. Yes, it had always been plain to see that the dumpy, desperate Pettigrew had been the lowest on the quartet's totem pole, so really maybe it was no wonder he had snapped under the pressure of a huge wizarding war. Not that Peter hadn't been a coward as well the boys knew, your friends undervaluing you wasn't a reason to give them up to be murdered by a ruthless, evil wizard. When it came to their friendship in the present, they truly had a much better balance going than their predecessors. They each thought they brought their own skills/characteristics to the group and their healthy respect for one another projected them as near equals amongst not only themselves, but the girls as well. Hopefully, they would never be tested by a war, but they remained positive that their bond would withstand at least the normal ups and downs of life for many years to come.

In the common room the first years scurried around inspecting everything, from the fireplace to the comfy armchairs and sofas. James Potter was actually amazed at their boundless enthusiasm, until he reminded himself that they were probably on some sort of massive sugar high. Pascal after all, had eaten at least half of a cherry pie all by himself. As he watched them, James found himself trying to remember his first night in this castle, how it had felt for him to see this room for the first time. It was hard however to go back even just the 4 years, and the 15-year-old sifted through a haze of many memories he associated with first year until he found the right ones. He remembered how everything, from the common room to the Great Hall to the dormitories to the castle itself, had simply felt big. Not big in an overwhelming sort of way, but big in an important and spacious kind of way… almost as if he was in a place that transcended time, a place that was a world within itself. Hogwarts had appeared big to 11-year-old James Potter, but he, amazingly enough, had also felt like everything that was here was also his in some small way. It was his common room, his dormitory, his four poster bed, his school; it was where he was included and where he belonged. And right now, in some corny little recess of his brain, James hoped that this group of first years felt like they belonged here at Hogwarts too, that they felt at home in the castle and especially in Gryffindor Tower. 


	4. Trevor's Sort of Bedtime Story

*New Chapter 4*: Trevor's Sort of Bedtime Story

Author's Note: The HP universe is, unfortunately, not my brain child. I'm only exercising my own ideas inside it. Also, this is another short chapter. But next chapter, James shows off! And I don't mean through story-telling like Trevor. Please, please review. You have no idea how happy any little comment makes me. I have low threshold of excitement, like for real. But above all, I hope you enjoy this next segment.

After a few more minutes of question-answering and vicarious excitement for the two prefects, the other Gryffindors started streaming through the portrait hole. This allowed James and Heather to finally take their leave of the first years, but only after Fiona had promised her sister that she'd write their parents as soon as possible. The eleven-year-old grumbled about it, but they assured her it was the easiest letter she'd ever write them… that and her sorting wasn't something they'd rather hear from Heather instead. That settled, the two 5th years talked quietly by the common room window while they waited for their friends, watching as most of the other students immediately headed off to bed.

"Say James," asked Heather after a while, "Did you guess the right twin as well?"

James snorted and laughed, "No I didn't. I thought he'd gotten it wrong." They both smiled at this and realized that the whole little event they'd just witnessed was something they would probably have to get used to. Dealing with random student interactions was something prefects handled all the time, and it didn't always get resolved as easily as tonight. "So Tuesday and Thursday nights for patrol… how did that come about?" murmured James as he gazed out the window into the distance, noting that the trees of the Forbidden Forest were being whipped briskly by the wind. The rain had picked up again since they'd arrived and appeared to be coming down at a heavier pace then it had all day.

"Yea, Tuesday and Thursday nights," repeated Heather proudly, "See, I tutored this bloke Henry Barnes's brother last year in Potions. It was only for a couple of months, so I don't know if you remember… but the little bugger's name was Scott?" James frowned and racked his brain but ended up shaking his head no. "Yea I suppose you wouldn't remember really, we met most of the time while you lot had practice," she said thoughtfully, "Well anyways, Henry is a seventh year Ravenclaw prefect now, whereas his brother's in Hufflepuff and a bit slow on the uptake sometimes. Henry came to me at the time and said I'd been doing his family a real favor tutoring the kid and all, because apparently both of their parents were Ravenclaws. He wanted to help prove that little Scotty could cut it too… with just a bit of extra practice. So I was like alright, but you'll owe me sometime. You know all half-joking like? But, because he's a Ravenclaw of course, he took it all serious like. So today on the train, he flat out told me he didn't want to feel indebted to me anymore, so that I could have his patrol times," she finished.

"Sweet deal partner," James said and he smiled at the strange nature of Ravenclaws. More often than not they tended to be calculating and logical, even their social interactions. As if asking for a favor, was akin to balancing an exchange of figures in their arithmancy textbooks.

"No problem partner," the Muggleborn echoed laughing, "So we'll do the route once and then sneak off to hang out in some tower somewhere?" she joked lightly. James smirked at her dubiously and she amended this fake plan. "Ok, maybe we won't sneak off. What do you say that we play it straight Potter?" she said resignedly, normally James would've been more into that idea than she was.

"If we must, we must," James sighed heavily and, for the first time since before dinner, he thought back to the altercation on the Hogwarts Express.

"It's going to be alright James, Antila is only one person… even if she is the sodding Head Girl," Heather said gently as she sensed her friend lapsing back into his earlier funk.

"It's fine Heath. I can get over it, honestly. Maybe it's a sign that I need to change a bit though, you know?" he mused. She noticed his brow was furrowed earnestly.

"I don't think you should let her opinion change you Jimmy, it's not like there's proof anyone agrees with her. You know, we wouldn't have you any other way than you are now. What are you going to do instead, get all serious like Jonah?" she suggested incredulously.

"No," James retorted shortly, and he frowned and ruffled his hair, "I don't know! It's just that first, my sister acts like hell's frozen over when I get the perfect's badge, and now some bitch on the train is all up in my business because she thinks the first thing I said to her was an insult? Not to mention, she acts as if she already felt like I'd make a lousy prefect before that. What's a guy supposed to believe? I mean, I think I know myself pretty well. I am a prankster and I am a damn good Quidditch player. Ok, I see a few girls… and I might have a bit of an ego, but for Merlin's sakes I'm not…I'm not an idiotic jerk-off am I?" He looked actually afraid of her answer.

Heather Ramsden scowled. She hated Antila Davies for making one of her best friends feel this insecure; the girl had been like instant confidence-sucking drain on him. This whole situation was the definition of crazy. "No you're not. Now look here Potter, do not get all wishy-washy on me like this! It's a bit disconcerting. Man up and prove her wrong or whatever you want, but most importantly, keep being yourself," she advised roughly and punched his shoulder hard.

James automatically winced and rubbed at the arm. "Ouch," he whined and playfully stuck his tongue out at his friend. Everyone knew that Heather was the optimist in their circle. And at moments like this he considered the fact that, without her, they'd probably all fall into some moody, pessimistic and vengeful ways that were quite unbecoming of supposedly proud, chivalrous Gryffindors.

The pair lapsed back into silence and continued to look out the window at the raging Scottish night, comforted by the fact that the castle was pretty snug considering and that their beds were always heated by the overzealous house elves. Suddenly, a large weight landed heavily on James's lower back with a hoot of mirth. Freddy could be seen holding on for dear life, as he clung to his cousin's robes and hollered in his ear. "Oi Freddy you dumb mucker, I'll drop you. What is it you're trying to pull?" growled James as (for the meantime) he stabilized his cousin's legs around his waist.

"How was your first actual prefect responsibility Jamesie?" asked Fred boisterously, ignoring the idea of himself being dropped on purpose. "Did ya lose any firsties?" he teased, while giving his mate a hearty, scalp-grinding noogie.

"It was fine," the eldest Potter responded through gritted teeth, as he stooped a bit to maintain his burlier cousin's weight. He could easily tell that Freddy was on a similar sugar high as to one the first years were/ had been on. James wondered vaguely if those kids had managed to go to sleep yet, or if they were still re-living, what had probably been, the biggest day of their young lives.

"Get off him Weasley, he looks like he can't breathe," Keira thankfully chose to interject at that moment. Fred mercifully obeyed and hopped off of James, who slowly straightened up and shook his head ruefully.

"I can see you've really worked on your bench press lately like we talked about, eh James?" said Trevor sarcastically. The sandy-haired Keeper knew he was working one of his friend's sore spots but he didn't care.

"I said I did!" retorted James, "Freddy is a right lard-ball! It's simply not fair…he's lucky I didn't drop him right off. I can do over 180 now, how about you?"

Trevor scoffed and said, "Well, I don't mean to brag (they all sniggered at that), but last week I went with my old man to the Puddlemere complex. Basically, I was bored at home and everyone else was at work and my Dad had to meet someone…blah…blah… same old Wood family shit you know. Anyways, while he was in his office doing his thing, I cruised by their training room. It was pretty empty, players day off and all, but you know who _was_ there lifting on his own?" He looked at everyone with an oddly prideful glint in his eyes, like he was about to score a real coup. The girls exchanged glances and rolled their eyes, they were already bored.

"Who?" prompted Freddy indulgently, completely unperturbed at recently being labeled a lard-ball. He did count eating as one of his hobbies, after all.

"Just Ian Mulholland," said Wood purposefully casual. But then he broke down and grinned. 

"Blimey, way to bury the lead on the train you wanker!" said James thunderstruck. He'd have much rather talked about this than Antila. Ian Mulholland was Puddlemere's rising star, but the boys had only seen him play sparingly in practice over the summer. Oliver had said that the team owners wanted to keep him largely under wraps until the League Cup tournament started. They hadn't met him in person either… but apparently now, Trevor had.

"So, how much can he lift?" demanded Freddy curiously and he took a seat up on the window ledge. Things were getting interesting. Jonah scowled and moved to the side as his friend invaded the space he'd been quietly occupying.

"Well, I'll get there in a second. Thankfully, he was just stretching when I got there. I mean what if he'd decided to do weights like a half hour earlier? I probably would've missed him. But yea, but because I was the only bloke around, he looks to me and says, 'Hey mate, Think I need a spotter. Whadda ya say, can ya help a fella out?' So duh, I went and helped him. I don't ignore golden opportunities," Trev explained obviously.

"Wait, did he know who you were?" interjected James.

"Oh yea, we got that whole introduction bit out of the way while I helped him load the bar. I mean of course he wanted to know who this, in his eyes, random teen was in his practice facility. Ha, he guessed I was a team trainer first off! But I squared with him that I was the Coach's youngest. He'd heard before that Dad had kids," Wood said.

"But the lift…" echoed Freddy insistently. Trev always got side-tracked like this.

"Ugh Weasley, didn't your parents ever drill any patience in your thick head?" Trevor mocked the redhead, "The guy can hack about 190. Which I guess is pretty good, for a scrawny Seeker boy like him. Anyways, he caught me smirking when he couldn't handle 195. So he asks what the joke is and I just flat out told him that I could so do better, but that at least he had like 20 pounds over my mate James." He grinned cheekily at his dark haired wizard.

James huffed and said, "Merlin, are you a competitive dick with everyone? If I was him I'd have decked you right there. And I wouldn't have given a damn thought neither to the fact that Oliver was not only my Coach but also your father."

An amused Wood waved him off, confident Mulholland didn't think like James, before continuing the story, "Yea…yea so anyway, he tells me to take a seat and do my best. But I can tell he's not exactly expecting much ya know?" and then he paused to look at them all again.

Rigel and Keira were both still rolling their eyes at the pretentiousness of it all, like James had said, it was so typical of Trevor to act all macho and ridiculous around everyone, whether they were famous like Ian Mulholland or not. Jonah was looking out of the sliver of window Fred wasn't blocking with his burly frame, pondering the wrath of Mother Nature or whatever. The only indication that he was listening one bit was that sometimes his eyebrows would rise to the rafters in surprise. James and Freddy were, of course, still captivated. And Heather, who was developing a solid interest in Quidditch at this point in her life after growing up around Muggles, was patiently waiting for him to get to that trademark big finish of his. Trevor Wood told great stories, because he was dramatic and almost as much of a bull-shitter as James. But his problem was that all his damn stories got wrapped up in how he'd had dealt with the situation, and/or what he had been thinking about at the time. Most of his friends simply longed for (just one time) a Trevor's story that was lighter on personal embellishment and heavier on the facts. It probably wouldn't be the best he'd ever told them, but at least it'd take less than hour.

"So what did you do, tease him by starting low? Or maybe… you pretended to struggle a bit?" interjected Keira knowingly, her boredom impossible not to hear in her voice. Everyone snickered as she took the wind right out of the bragger's sails and left him feeling a bit put out.

"No one likes a killjoy Keira," muttered Trevor sulkily, "By the way, you have to start low when you're lifting. Otherwise you could tear something, everyone knows that. But so yea, like this little ray of sunshine said, I did fake struggle a bit until about 185. But at that point I really had him going. So, when he goes to levitate only 5 more pounds onto the bar I urge him to go for an extra 5. Now I can tell he's gonna like shit himself if I can actually do it, because he looks scared to death that his Coach's son is potentially going to crush himself under 195 pounds and he can't really tell me not to try it. So he adds the weight hesitantly and hovers over me, keep in mind, knowing full well if something did go wrong, that he can't hoist 195 either." A smile played at Trevor's lips and he could barely stop himself from bust out laughing over how he really screwed with a Puddlemere young gun, basically for no reason.

"So, it was a perfect lift at 195?" inquired James hollowly. He had always been at a disadvantage when working out with Trevor because he, quite frankly, didn't have the body type to support such large weights. His best mate had grown up tall but compact, while James was oh so skinny, just like he'd always been. The eldest Potter inwardly felt like 180 had been a great number, when they had left school last year they had both been hovering around 170. But now, Wood had one upped him again as usual and he wasn't likely to let him forget it.

"Naturally," replied the currently smug 15-year-old Keeper and he looked enormously pleased.

"So, what did Mulholland do about it? Was he pissed?" asked Freddy unimpressed over Trevor's new number, he really didn't bother with weights much himself.

"Nah not pissed. In fact, he made me do it again and again, like five times, before he was satisfied. More than satisfied actually, I'd say he was impressed," answered Trevor with obvious pride. The girls and Jonah shrugged at him, successful Trevor Wood scheming stories and lost their appeal ages ago. In fact, none of them were even quite sure why they were still standing here in the drafty, scarcely-lit common room. Clearly, the house elves had not expected lingerers on this first night back.

"So how high did you go Trev?" James insisted on knowing, his ego the only thing still encouraging his mate's tale.

"210. But it was a little leery, I barely held it at full extension past a ten count," said the brown-haired Keeper truthfully.

James nodded curtly and bit at his lip, trying not to come off as jealous. "Oh don't get pouty Potty," teased Trevor when he noticed, "We'll go down to the Room of Requirement on Friday after classes and put in some time. It's still a crime they won't put a real training gym in this castle, what with all the extra rooms," he sighed.

"Oh, like you need a gym? You destroyed all the other houses last year. And except for Freddy, whose got a bit of flab from his Muggle Twinkie habit, I don't think you lot really need that workout," snorted Jonah. He was again astounded that his well-off, male friends always wanted everything at their fingertips. Hogwarts was ancient school, not a modern-day Muggle strip mall.

"But that's not the point Jo-nah," tutted Trevor, "It's not always about _needing_ to work out, it's about how it makes you feel mentally as well. That satisfaction of seeing those muscles tone up, the satisfaction of doing something psychically demanding, even if it hurts in the end." Jonah just shrugged it off, let them get a high off the endorphins or whatever, the chances of him ever needing or wanting the use of a gym was slim.

"It is the satisfaction that's addicting," agreed James, "And I'm not pouty, I just kind of hate you a little bit Wood," he added moodily. Eventually however, in spite of himself, he cracked a tiny rueful smile at his friend's achievement. Trev was certainly well on his way to a pro career, the scouts just loved a solid, psychical specimen like him.

"Aw. My skinny little Jimmy! He may grow taller folks, but he still can't seem to grow much wider, despite eating like a disposal. Face it mucker, it's all in the genes. And with your parents it doesn't look like you'll ever break 200 pounds," chortled Wood and believe it or not he was actually trying to be consoling towards his best mate.

Rigel Wicklow had been standing there the whole time dully listening to Trevor boast his way through another random story that involved Quidditch. She liked Quidditch, as much as any other pureblood wizarding child who had dreamt of flight since they could toddle. She wasn't any good at the sport, but never the less she liked it. The problem was, she only liked it so much and it wasn't nearly at the level of obsession that Trevor, James and Freddy had. Keira was pretty emphatic about it as well, but as she had admitted to her fellow females on more than one occasion, she'd probably be the first person on the Gryffindor team to skive a 5 a.m. practice session. Only she hadn't managed to bring herself to do it yet, because winning meant so much to the boys. Incidentally though, Rigel figured that after about a month of James Potter "The Captain" Keira would finally be willing to really skive her first practice.

"Trev love, is the story over?" questioned the curly-haired witch pointedly, as her thoughts seriously began to wander towards her bed upstairs. She had gotten up at six this morning, in order to do some last minute packing before the two hour ride into London, and she was practically dead on her feet. Also, if she was being honest as usual, she felt a bit bad for James tonight and fervently hoped the story _was_ over so that he could stop getting kicked where it hurt. First, he had gotten reamed out by the Head Girl and now his best mate had basically crushed his crowning achievement of the summer (besides becoming the Quidditch Captain), while also throwing in the fact that he had gotten to meet their latest hero at the same time. That was more than enough for anyone to deal with in one day.

"Nearly," replied Trevor and he stopped teasing James as he suddenly noticed, for seriously the first time, the lack of people in the common room. The clock on the mantle had the time at well past midnight and his friends were now yawning conspicuously.

Jonah actually appeared to be sleeping, with his tiny head balanced on his arm on the window sill, and Heather was nodding off against the wall. "Then bloody finish! I'm going up in two minutes either way," Keira assured him.

"Merlin's ass, I don't know why I got you an autograph in the first place Morley. You're always so pissy and impatient. Like Weasley, only worse," taunted Wood. 

"It's late you numbskull, don't give me that crap. And I'm not always impatient, your always talking to much…say what autograph?" retorted Keira, suddenly curious.

"That's the end of the story," said Wood smugly, "I made Ian Mulholland sign a crap load of stuff for me after he doubted my lifting abilities. He was a good sport about it really, which makes him right decent bloke, no question. Fun fact, did any of you know he was actually a Hufflepuff here? I saw a badger tattoo on his bicep while I was spotting him and asked him about it. Anyhow, he wanted to know if you were a Seeker too Jamesie, because you have such a low max lift. But I told him you were just scrawny for a Chaser and he ended up signing a Puddlemere flag and shirt for you. He also signed an old Snitch of his with a message for Albus, might save that for Christmas. And Rige, I got you a signed shirt. Morley, I remembered how over the summer you mentioned he was kind of cute so he wrote on a picture for you. Btw, it's ok, you don't have to thank me because I know that's not your style," he finished sarcastically and then glanced at her, stubbornly expectant.

Keira and Trevor had always had this odd chemistry from day one, they bickered and carried on enough to make most actual blood siblings look like angels, but they also had this fierce loyalty to one another. Like one time that James remembered most vividly was back in 3rd year, they'd been playing Slytherin at Quidditch and the game had gotten out of control. Pretty much like any other Gryffindor-Slytherin matchup in history, there had been the required number of broken bones and questionable hits. Toward the end of the match, the two sneering Slytherin Beaters, who were the same age as James and his crew, had both simultaneously whacked the bludgers at Keira's head. Beater A's aim had sucked and his bludger had only ended up grazing her shoulder. But it was there her luck ran out, and the second one had actually clocked her sideways in the jaw at speed. Thinking of the sound impact had made still got James a bit queasy, even after all this time. Once Keira, who had somehow managed to fly to the ground bleeding from the mouth, had been hustled off to the hospital wing Trevor had gone ballistic.

James had a freeze frame seared into his mind of a manic Wood hurtling past him, a steely look in his grey eyes, flying at the two Slytherins. Fortunately for them, the two morons had scattered before he'd reached them and before he could regroup to try it again James had literally blocked his path. It wasn't that James hadn't been angry with the two Slytherins for intentionally hurting his friend. He had simply wanted to finish the game and win before worrying about getting even. The determined Chaser had realized almost immediately that if he let Wood crash into them his friend would have been removed from the game. And Gryffindor had needed their Keeper if they were going to have a shot at victory. They had indeed won the match, playing a Chaser down, about 20 minutes after the injury on a diving grab by Albus.

Sure enough, less than ten seconds after the closing whistle, Trevor had rapidly alit from his broom. Talking to no one and refusing to be stopped, he had taken down the two opposing Beaters as soon as they'd landed. After tackling the first one, he'd gotten up and punched the second a few times before finally being dragged off by their flying teacher/Quidditch ref Mr. Knightley. Professor Longbottom had had no choice but to give Trevor detention for a month and they all knew that he could have been even harder on him for the premeditated assault. Wood, who had done his detentions without complaint, had never discussed the incident further, except to say that he couldn't believe Keira had managed to fly to the ground unassisted. James was wholly convinced that Trevor would, under similar circumstances, hit such bastards again and probably in a more private corner of the castle so he could get more licks in. No one had ever labeled his mate a talker over a fighter.

See the thing about it, that not a lot of people knew, was that the fight had also been the result of a situation brewing before the match, as well as what had happened during. The two stupid Slytherins, who had purposefully pelted her, had already been heckling Keira for days beforehand. They had been saying things like, how they 'always looked forward to playing Gryffindor just so they could watch her screw up and look pretty doing it', or they wondered 'how they had found Quidditch robes for her that didn't make her ass look like a small planet.' But sad as they were, those examples hadn't even encompassed the worst of it. Somehow the pair of thuggish pricks had discovered Keira making out with their Slytherin roommate, an actually decent bloke, and then their insults had gotten nastier. As Keira and the rest of the team had been eating an early breakfast before the match, they had shamelessly strode up to the Gryffindor table just to call her a slag who would never amount to anything and who nobody would ever want for more than a 'good time'. When Trevor, who had heard all of their smack talk directed at her, had beaten them up he had quite plainly defended her honor. Sending them a message never to mess with her again or he would become involved. Wood had evolved from simply a close friend into her protector overnight and James had obviously never seen another Beater go headhunting on the only female Gryffindor Chaser since.

Keira mumbled something that maybe sounded, a bit, like 'thank you' at Trevor but wisely no one asked her to repeat it. Freddy was eagerly bouncing up and down on the window ledge with nervous excitement as he wondered what Wood had procured for him. But on principle, seeing as his friend had called him out on impatience already tonight, he refused to straight up ask him.

Trevor noticed this and decided to intentionally prolong the young Weasley's anxiety by saying, "Right, so now that I've just confirmed that it's _actually_ possible for Keira to have a thing for a man for more than a couple of days, we can move on. Heath, I also got you a signed picture so I hope that's cool. You know, maybe if you plaster it on the inside cover of your H.O.M textbook you'll actually zone out in class like the rest of us…just saying. Incidentally Rigel love, I chose a t-shirt for you over the picture because I remember you saying something about how those fan photos always wink at you cheekily and that you find it really annoying."

Rigel smiled and gave him the thumbs up, clearly impressed that apparently he paid more attention when she talked than it seemed like he did. She also figured he considered it a win-win that her dislike of fan photos meant she wouldn't be easily inspired to daydream about Ian Mulholland in History of Magic herself.

Fred continued to look desperately curious but Wood instead called out loudly to the slumbering Jonah. "Oi Henley, look sharp fella! If you don't wake up we'll miss class!" the jokester attempted to make him believe.

The tiny blonde abruptly snapped to and looked around, "What are you talking about?" he mumbled tiredly, gazing at Trevor.

"Nothing, I'm just jesting with you Jo-nah. But by the way, I got you an Ian Mulholland autograph on a piece of parchment, if you're interested. Even dorks like autographs eh?" he teased, "So, that's everybody right? Also, seriously don't mention what a great mate I am or anything… they're just token gifts from another token awesome moment in my life after all. Not like a big deal. Well, I guess we really should all hit the sack at this point. Merlin knows how I've missed that goose-down mattress on my four-poster. Seriously, my accommodations at home are good, but not everyone can find an extra-long goose down mattress for a chap my size. Bless the existence of the Hogwarts house elves," finished Wood happily and he actually made a move towards the staircase.

"Wait one ruddy minute," groaned Freddy predictably and he leapt off the window ledge, "What about my Ian Mulholland thingy?" he demanded. Trevor hesitated, yearning to drag this out even longer. But Rigel was giving him a disapproving look, Keira was eyeing the clocked pointedly and James shook his head no just a fraction as he smiled sadly at his cousin's angst.

"Eh Weasley, it's just some tatty old gym towel with the Puddlemere crest on it. His signature got a bit bleedy too, what with the sweat from him lifting and then wiping his brow with it," Trev said seriously.

"You got…You got them all pictures or t-shirts or flags or what not and I get a sweaty, used towel," screeched the red-head appalled, in a volume highly inappropriate for almost one in the morning. His face was flaming red with indignation as he spluttered.

"Well yea I did. Hey, this is Ian Mulholland! He probably sweats excellence you hefty ingrate so buck up," responded Trevor, still seriously.

"Did you really just get him a gym towel Trev?" inquired Heather skeptically. That would have been low, even for their twisted relationship.

"I'm serious Weasley enjoy your towel," he responded before pausing. "Maybe you can use it keep the dust off your game-used Hector Brisby Beater's bat," he added quietly and then started to laugh. James sniggered at the shocked gasp that escaped from Fred's mouth, before his cousin walked over to the crafty Wood and put him in a tight headlock. The two stocky fifth years then started to wrestle around on the maroon carpet, grunting and gasping. Trevor continued to laugh uproariously as he let Freddy pin him to the ground and sit on his chest.

"How did you get a Beater's bat outta Mulholland anyway?" asked James suddenly curious, "First off he's a Seeker and second, I bet that thing costs a heap to buy."

"Yea I imagine it is. He said Brisby left it there in the weight room for some reason and that seeing as I liked a good joke, I should take it. I had already mentioned that Weasley here was a Beater and Ian thought it would be a perfect gift. Plus, he was delighted at the mere thought of what Brisby would do when he found it missing, something about a whole lot of yelling and cussing. I don't know he's almost as crazy as we are," said Trevor breathily as Fred's weight crushed against his rib cage.

"Ian…did you just call him Ian? What are you on a first name basis with him now after your male bonding/autograph session?" teased James. The sandy brown-haired youth quickly responded with the middle finger as he tried to wriggle out from underneath Freddy, but the Beater wouldn't let him.

"So it's a stolen present," said Weasley matter-of-factly as he attempted to squelch Trevor's renewed efforts to escape.

"Well, not exactly any more. See I explained to my dad how Brisby had just left it, because I couldn't smuggle it home without him seeing and so he let me have it. He said that it looked like a new bat that Hector must not be terribly fond of and that companies were always getting the players to try out their stuff, that didn't mean they had to keep it. I told him I was giving it to you and he was pleased, inspected it right proper after that too. No cracks in the solid oak, within regulation weight and length. I believe it's a model from the new Ironbelly Equipment Company, straight out of the Ukraine," he explained. Then with a colossal effort he flipped Fred over with a very loud thud. This maneuver led to another spell of rolling and grunting and, at one point, they had almost knocked over several armchairs before Trevor gained the upper hand and struggled mightily to keep his companion pinned.

Jonah gaped at the two ruffians and wondered how things like this even came to happen in the middle of the night. The three tired girls cast wary glances at the overly goofy teenage boys in their presence before putting their heads together and whispering solicitously to one another.

"We've had enough, we're going to bed now you crazy tosspots," Keira promptly informed them and her dorm mates nodded wearily in agreement. "You really are a sick prat Wood," she added, half serious, half incredulous.

Trevor hopped up off of Freddy and shrugged. "Thanks Morley, I hope your dreams are plagued with images of me blocking ever goal you ever try to score and that eventually you give up, drop the Quaffle and weep," he replied conversationally. In all honesty, he'd thought that retort up weeks ago and had been anxiously waiting to fit it in some night.

The feisty blonde's eyes narrowed pointedly at him before she turned away, "Night James, Night Jonah, Night Fred," she said quickly and with that she disappeared up the girl's spiral staircase. Heather then pleasantly wished all four boys good night and thanked Trevor for the autograph he'd gotten her, before following Keira to their dorm yawning as she went. Trevor hardly blinked at Keira's huffy departure and he looked from his girlfriend to his dorm mates in turn, almost willing them off to bed with his mind so that he could have moment alone with her.

James was first to catch his drift. "We should go on up now eh Freddy, Jonah? See you at breakfast Rige," he said and then he cocked his head expectantly in the direction of the boy's staircase. Jonah, who was pretty on top of the situation for someone who had recently been asleep, calmly bade Rigel good night as well and prodded the dimwitted Freddy as much as he could in the right direction.

"Good night then. You boys better be down here 8:20 sharp or we're sending Keira up there," she gleefully warned their retreating backs.

The trio of single Gryffindor fifth years plodded slowly to the top of the tower where the sign outside the door succinctly proclaimed it 'Fifth Years'. They entered quietly into a familiar room to see their trunks at the ends of their usual beds and the curtains drawn around their last roommate's one. Alexander Drake was snoring lightly behind them and James, for one, looked forward to hearing all about Xander's holiday tomorrow. His father was the school potion's master and the Drake family usually spent most of their summer off traipsing the globe, looking for rare magical plants and beasts in order procure some crazy ingredients. Xander was a top notch dueler (James supposed when you went looking for manticores and dragons you had to be) and an excellent student in Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and, of course, Potions. His mates in Gryffindor found him to be a great chap and were pleased to have his company, when they weren't off playing Quidditch or pranking unsuspecting Hogwarts denizens that is. The only knock on the young wizard was that he was a bit aloof, a real lone wolf when he wanted to be.

James stripped down to his boxers and threw his robes on the floor in a heap, before pawing around in his trunk by the light of his wand for a t-shirt. Freddy and Jonah were also dressing for bed by wand light, because even though they all knew Xander wouldn't mind them turning on a lamp, (if he could even tell they had at this point) they were just too tired and lazy. Trevor came up five minutes after they did, arriving just as James was crawling into bed. "Oi no lights?" he whispered with his voice practically radiating happiness. James heaved a jealous sigh, thinking it must be nice having a steady girlfriend that actually liked you for you.

"Just use your wand lover boy," teased Freddy as he closed his hangings and wished them all a cheerful good night. The red-head was now exponentially happier upon knowing what his gift was. James was a bit surprised his cousin hadn't made Trev unpacked it from his truck this very moment. Jonah simply grunted at them and was half asleep before his head hit the pillow. James himself rolled onto his side and was faintly conscious of Wood humming quietly as he shuffled around getting ready to turn in. Before long he contentedly went to sleep, stomach completely sated and happy to have returned to the castle.


End file.
